Overview
- Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty signed the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement in Manila after a bilateral meeting.
- The accord provides legal authority for temporary troop visits with equipment, enabling exercises, interoperability efforts, and capacity-building activities.
- Canada described this as its first visiting-forces agreement in the Indo-Pacific.
- The deal brings Manila’s total visiting-forces accords to five as the Philippines also pursues similar arrangements with France, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany and India.
- Officials say the agreement supports deterrence and a rules-based order in the South China Sea, building on prior cooperation such as Canada’s Dark Vessel Detection data-sharing with the Philippines.