US returns to Philippines to counter China’s power
American military bedding down anew at nine sites
The far-flung coastal town of Santa Ana in the northeastern tip of the Philippine mainland has long been known by tourists for its beaches, waterfalls, fireflies and a few casinos.
But that’s changing after the laidback town of about 35,000 people, which still has no traffic lights, became strategically important to America.
The United States and the Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, have identified Santa Ana in northern Cagayan province as one of nine mostly rural areas where rotating batches of American forces could encamp indefinitely on local military bases under the Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement .
Thousands of US forces withdrew from two huge Navy and Air Force bases in the Philippines in the early 1990s at the end of the Cold War, ending nearly a century of American military presence in the country.
In recent years, Washington has been reinforcing an arc of military alliances in Asia to counter an increasingly assertive China. That dovetails with Philippine efforts to bolster its external defences after a spate of territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea that started last year. The high seas confrontations have injured several Filipino Navy personnel, damaged their boats and strained diplomatic ties.
Santa Ana is caught in the geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing because of its strategic location. It lies across a sea border from the disputed self-governing island of Taiwan.
Some villagers in Santa Ana have expressed apprehension over the prospect of living near US forces. The Governor, Manuel Mamba, has vehemently opposed any US military presence, saying it would make Cagayan a military target of China. Other villagers say the Philippines needs the Americans as a crucial counterweight to China. “There’s no choice. If you compare the number of our forces with that of China, they have much, much more,” Romeo Asuncion, a planning and economic development officer in Santa Ana, told AP. “If the Americans are here, they would protect us whatever happens.”
There’s also the prospect of economic benefits and aid from the US military presence. “If they donate a school that will be good,” he said. Rowena Castillo, a consultant to the town’s mayor, expressed hope the wider attention on Santa Ana would boost tourism.
Some villagers acknowledged that even without the American forces, the town would likely be affected in any major-power military showdown due to Santa Ana’s location.
Authorities and village leaders recently met at the initiative of the local military to discuss contingency plans, including the possibility of setting up emergency shelters for refugees, in case tensions between China and Taiwan flare into an armed conflict, Marion Miranda, Santa Ana’s disaster-mitigating officer, told AP.
In Lal-lo, another rural Cagayan town southwest of Santa Ana, part of the airport was designated as a possible encampment site for US forces. Unlike the two massive military bases that American forces used to occupy, the US military is building a new presence in a much smaller area within Philippine camps.
During large-scale combat drills called Balikatan that ended on Friday, Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters carrying allied forces, their weapons and other supplies landed and took off at the Lal-lo Airport and the Navy camp in Santa Ana.
The defence agreement allows rotating batches of US forces to stay rent-free at the military sites and store their defence equipment — except nuclear weapons — there. The US has allocated more than US$82 million ($136.5m) to build ammunition and fuel storage, an urban combat training facility, aircraft parking, runway repairs and warehouses for humanitarian response items in the first five sites.
President Ferdinand Marcos jnr agreed to add four more sites where US forces could stay, including the Philippine Navy camp in Santa Ana and the Lal-lo airport, last year.
China has expressed alarm over the increased US troop deployments in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia and said the defence sites in the northern Philippines could serve as surveillance outposts and staging grounds for US forces to contain Beijing.