Philippines and the U.S. signed 10 year long defence pact

The Philippines and the United States signed a 10 year long defence pact on 28 April 2014. Philippine defence minister Voltaire Gazmin and US ambassador Philip Goldberg signed the defence pact.

The military agreement will allow a bigger US military presence on Filipino territory and essentially allow US access to Philippine military bases across the country. However, the new agreement will not allow the reopening of US bases in the Philippines.  

The deal is only a framework agreement. The agreement is seen as another element of Obama's effort to focus US military and economic attention more heavily on Asia.

The United States and the Philippines are already long-time allies bound by a mutual defence pact. The Philippines hosted two of the largest overseas US military bases until 1992.

The Philippines had been eager for an agreement to expand the arrangement to boost its weak military capabilities and emphasise its close ties to the United States, at a time of deep tensions with China over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea.

The deal would also allow the United States to store equipment that could be used to mobilise American forces faster — particularly in cases of natural disasters.