Philippines, Canada sign deals to augment SOVFA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Canada have sealed two more defense cooperation deals, giving teeth to the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) signed between the two countries last year.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and Canadian Minister of National Defense David McGuinty held a Defense Ministers’ Meeting on Thursday where they signed the Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement (MLSA) and the Statement of Intent (SOI) for Deepening Defense Cooperation.

Both the MLSA and the SOI “are poised to pave the way for advancing cooperation, promoting defense resilience, enabling swift assistance to citizens in times of emergency, contributing to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and fostering greater convergence among like-minded nations.”

At a joint press conference with McGuinty, Teodoro said the two new agreements “put teeth” to the SOVFA between the Philippines and Canada that “is an expression and an exercise of interoperability, of building trust and confidence between our defense systems and our armed forces, because we need to underpin our strong and robust ties for more economic activities, for more secure people-to-people exchanges, for more interaction between both our countries.

McGuinty, for his part, underscored how “Canada and the Philippines share an enduring friendship spanning more than 75 years.”

“Our defense relationship is rooted in a shared commitment to democracy, the rule of law and a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific. In today’s increasingly complex security environment, partnerships like ours are more important than ever, and the secretary and I had a good opportunity to exchange both privately and bilaterally with our teams for the last hour or more,” he said.

McGuinty said the two agreements “will allow our armed forces to train, exercise and operate together more effectively once it enters into force.”

“These agreements reflect the momentum of a growing and important defense partnership,” he noted.

McGuinty declared that as outlined in Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, “Canada remains committed to supporting peace, security and stability throughout the region. That includes support for a maritime order grounded in international law, where disputes are resolved peacefully and the rights of all states are respected.”