EDCA site Basa air base to get $24-M airstrip extension, rehab —Carlson

A $24-million airstrip extension and rehabilitation project will break ground at the Basa Air Base in Pampanga—one of the existing Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites in the country—on March 20, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson has said.

In an interview with GMA Integrated News anchor Vicky Morales, Carlson said the airstrip extension is one of the biggest among the projects worth over $80 million at the Philippine military facilities which US forces may access under the defense agreement.

"I can announce today that we are going to do a groundbreaking this month. On March 20th, we’re going to invite our US Secretary of the Air Force to do a groundbreaking on a $24-million project that will extend the Basa airstrip and rehabilitate that," Carlson said.

She said the project was to make sure that the airstrip would be "useful so that when planes land they’re not negatively affected."

"Right now a part of that airstrip is not usable because of the state of disrepair," Carlson said.

Aside from the Basa Air Base in Pampanga, the other original EDCA sites are the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, For Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, and the Beniro Ebuen Air Base in Mactan.

Signed in 2014, EDCA grants US forces access to designated Philippine military facilities, the right to construct facilities, and preposition equipment, aircraft, and vessels.

There is no permanent basing because the Constitution prohibits foreign military bases in the country.

In February, the Department of National Defense announced the Philippines and the US are eyeing four additional sites which will allow more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in Manila and respond to other shared challenges.

Asked where the new sites will be located, Carlson said: "I don’t want to get ahead of the Philippine government on what our militaries have come up with."

"But I could say we should be able to announce the next EDCA sites within the next several months and then getting the US congress to appropriate the funds once there is an agreement on where they will go," Carlson said.

She said the additional EDCA sites had been chosen for “a number of reasons” and sought to allay fears from local officials that these will pose risks to residents.

“It’s 365 days a year that the militaries are coordinating and they choose sites for any number of reasons and that’s to primarily ensure the lives and the livelihoods of Filipinos are protected and that US security interests are all so enhanced,” Carlson said. —Sundy Locus/NB, GMA Integrated News