Abstract

The Philippines’ most credible deterrent to China’s stepped-up unilateral actions in the South China Sea is under the pen of Maria Lourdes Sereno, the chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court. Sereno has been tasked with writing the decision of the court on whether the U.S.-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which would involve stationing American troops, planes, and ships in the country on a rotating basis, is constitutional. The agreement would also help the Philippines boost its maritime security through closer cooperation with the U.S. military.
Philippine defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin and U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg signed the EDCA last April, shortly before President Barack Obama arrived for a state visit to the Philippines. The administration of President Benigno Aquino III has insisted that the EDCA is an executive agreement that merely raises the scope of, and therefore falls within legal boundaries of, the two countries’ 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. However, a group of Philippine lawmakers, academics, activists, and former lawmakers have charged that the agreement amounts to a treaty and will require separate ratification by the Philippine senate.