(MENAFN) Canada has become the fifth country to enter into a visiting forces defense agreement with the Philippines, enabling both nations to deploy military personnel on each other’s territory and enhance defense cooperation, according to reports.

The Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) was signed on Sunday in Makati by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Canadian Minister of National Defense David McGuinty following a bilateral meeting. Teodoro noted that while information-sharing and people-to-people ties between the two countries are already “robust,” the new pact “would make that robustness enduring.”

He further emphasized the strategic value of the agreement, saying, “Beyond this agreement, we recognize its strategic value of expanding cooperation in critical areas such as maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and cyber defense capability.” Teodoro added that both nations can contribute “not only for individual security but also for collective peace and stability in the region” and stressed that the deal would “resist attempts to redefine the norms for the selfish advantage of powerful countries.”

McGuinty described the agreement as a step that “will bring our countries closer together at a time,” highlighting that it is Canada’s first defense pact with an Asian nation.

The signing follows the recent Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA) in the West Philippine Sea, which involved the Philippines, the US, Australia, and, for the first time, New Zealand. The Canadian agreement marks the fifth such deal for the Philippines, after previous pacts with the US in 1998, Australia in 2007, Japan in 2024, and New Zealand in April 2025.

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