Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

Force in Play

Leading the Philippines' military agreement expansion campaign

For decades, security in the western Pacific ran through Washington. Countries struck bilateral deals with the United States and, mostly, with no one else. That model is dissolving. On March 27, the Philippines and France signed a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) in Paris. It's the Philippines' first such pact with a European partner. The agreement gives each country's troops a legal basis to train and operate on the other's soil. France now joins the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Canada on a growing list of nations with military access arrangements in the Philippines. Four of these were signed in under two years.

Updated May 30