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Supreme Court rules that defense agreement reached in 2014 doesn’t require Senate approval
U.S. and Philippine troops during a joint military exercise in October; the Philippines’ Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a defense agreement between the two nations doesn’t require Senate approval. PHOTO: ROUELLE UMALI/ZUMA PRESS
By TREFOR MOSS
Updated Jan. 12, 2016
MANILA—The Philippines’ top court ruled that U.S. troops can deploy to the Southeast Asian country, approving a contested defense pact that stands to enhance American power in the region at a time when China is asserting itself more forcefully there.
Tuesday’s ruling ends months of speculation about the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, designed to revitalize the 65-year-old U.S.-Philippine alliance two decades after American forces pulled out of the country. The 2014 pact had been stalled for nearly two years by a legal challenge.
The Supreme Court’s 10-4 decision came hours before U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry were due to hold security talks with their Philippine counterparts Voltaire Gazmin and Albert Del Rosario in Washington, D.C. While confronting Chinese assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea will still be high on the agenda, the two sides can now focus on implementing a key part of the Obama administration’s strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region.
Both countries welcomed the ruling. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Manila called the security pact “a mutually beneficial agreement that will enhance our ability to provide rapid humanitarian assistance and help build capacity for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” The Philippines said the two countries “can now proceed in finalizing the arrangements for its full implementation.”
By ruling that the deal isn’t a new treaty requiring Senate approval but an “executive agreement” legally signed by President Benigno Aquino III, the court ensures that it won’t be abandoned when the term-limited leader leaves office in June. Instead, the U.S. can now deploy thousands of Marines to the Philippines and increase the presence of aircraft and naval ships to Philippine facilities.
The Philippines is banking on a restored American presence at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay—once two of the U.S. military’s biggest overseas bases, located near the South China Sea—to provide “deterrence against further Chinese provocation” and “enhance their security alliance,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a security expert at De La Salle University in Manila.
On Monday China defended its decision to start operating flights from a newly built airstrip in the disputed Spratly Islands, calling the flights “totally within China’s sovereignty.” China claims most of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
During a visit to Manila late last year, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to provide two ships to the Philippine Navy, and the Philippines are expected to seek additional military support during the talks in Washington.
“The laundry list of needs for the Philippine military is almost endless,” said Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think-tank. He said the “U.S. can, and should, regularize and broaden the operations it conducts in the Spratlys via the Freedom of Navigation Program” in support of its ally.
In return, Manila might commit to joining the U.S.’s freedom-of-navigation operations, which Washington began last year to assert the right to sail and fly close to artificial islands recently built by China, said Mr. Heydarian.
The immediate focus, though, will be on upgrading Philippine military facilities to prepare for the arrival of U.S. forces. “The Philippine and the U.S. will have to move quickly” given the pace of Chinese construction in the disputed region, he said.
Philippine Court Clears Way for Bigger U.S. Military Role - WSJ
U.S. and Philippine troops during a joint military exercise in October; the Philippines’ Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a defense agreement between the two nations doesn’t require Senate approval. PHOTO: ROUELLE UMALI/ZUMA PRESS
By TREFOR MOSS
Updated Jan. 12, 2016
MANILA—The Philippines’ top court ruled that U.S. troops can deploy to the Southeast Asian country, approving a contested defense pact that stands to enhance American power in the region at a time when China is asserting itself more forcefully there.
Tuesday’s ruling ends months of speculation about the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, designed to revitalize the 65-year-old U.S.-Philippine alliance two decades after American forces pulled out of the country. The 2014 pact had been stalled for nearly two years by a legal challenge.
The Supreme Court’s 10-4 decision came hours before U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry were due to hold security talks with their Philippine counterparts Voltaire Gazmin and Albert Del Rosario in Washington, D.C. While confronting Chinese assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea will still be high on the agenda, the two sides can now focus on implementing a key part of the Obama administration’s strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region.
Both countries welcomed the ruling. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Manila called the security pact “a mutually beneficial agreement that will enhance our ability to provide rapid humanitarian assistance and help build capacity for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” The Philippines said the two countries “can now proceed in finalizing the arrangements for its full implementation.”
By ruling that the deal isn’t a new treaty requiring Senate approval but an “executive agreement” legally signed by President Benigno Aquino III, the court ensures that it won’t be abandoned when the term-limited leader leaves office in June. Instead, the U.S. can now deploy thousands of Marines to the Philippines and increase the presence of aircraft and naval ships to Philippine facilities.
The Philippines is banking on a restored American presence at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay—once two of the U.S. military’s biggest overseas bases, located near the South China Sea—to provide “deterrence against further Chinese provocation” and “enhance their security alliance,” said Richard Javad Heydarian, a security expert at De La Salle University in Manila.
On Monday China defended its decision to start operating flights from a newly built airstrip in the disputed Spratly Islands, calling the flights “totally within China’s sovereignty.” China claims most of the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
During a visit to Manila late last year, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to provide two ships to the Philippine Navy, and the Philippines are expected to seek additional military support during the talks in Washington.
“The laundry list of needs for the Philippine military is almost endless,” said Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think-tank. He said the “U.S. can, and should, regularize and broaden the operations it conducts in the Spratlys via the Freedom of Navigation Program” in support of its ally.
In return, Manila might commit to joining the U.S.’s freedom-of-navigation operations, which Washington began last year to assert the right to sail and fly close to artificial islands recently built by China, said Mr. Heydarian.
The immediate focus, though, will be on upgrading Philippine military facilities to prepare for the arrival of U.S. forces. “The Philippine and the U.S. will have to move quickly” given the pace of Chinese construction in the disputed region, he said.
Philippine Court Clears Way for Bigger U.S. Military Role - WSJ
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Since when did USA started this business of asking for other nations' permission on where or how her military choose to operates? This is only for local consumption and political mileage.
Philippines should be more concern with a recent law just assed by China Parliament. 
