President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday that four new military bases under a defense agreement with the U.S. would be located in various parts of the Philippines, including in a province facing the South China Sea.
Last month, Marcos granted the U.S. access to four sites, on top of five existing locations under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which comes amid China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and toward Taiwan.
"There are four extra sites scattered around the Philippines — there are some in the north, there are some around Palawan, there are some further south," Marcos told reporters at the sidelines of the Philippine army's founding anniversary.