MANILA — Filipino and American troops are planning to mount "high-level" exchanges and expand projects under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Saturday.

In a statement, the AFP said the annual mutual defense board meeting on Thursday led by AFP Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner, Jr. and US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral John Aquilino had "fruitful discussions."

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Brawner and Aquilino want to speed up the completion of EDCA projects and place 63 more on top of the 32 programs under the agreement.

"The meeting is the culminating activity of the PH-US planning cycle that assessed previous activities and set out over 500 bilateral engagements for 2024 to include exercises and high-level exchanges," the statement read.

These exchanges, AFP said, would include security cooperation, strategies on strengthening maritime security, information sharing, among others.

“It signifies our commitment to further strengthen our cooperation, ensuring that both militaries are equipped and well-prepared to respond to evolving security challenges," Brawner said.

Aside from this, Brawner and Aquilino reaffirmed the two nations' commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty and stressed the importance of a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region aligned on a rules-based international order.

Last week, top Philippine and US officials flew to the EDCA sites at the Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo and Naval Base Camilo Osias in Sta. Ana, both in Cagayan.

They assessed the potential of the sites for the development of facilities to support humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations, as well as the modernization of the AFP.

The officials also went to the Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga to inspect completed EDCA projects. These include a command and control fusion center and the renovated runway.

There are now 9 Philippine bases that the US are allowed to use under EDCA.

Four of them were identified last April, namely, the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo, Cagayan; Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan.

— with a report from Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News

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