ABOARD PR001: The Philippines and Japan have yet to formally discuss any military arrangement similar to the visiting forces agreement between Manila and Washington, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said.
The President made the remark on Wednesday when asked to comment on a report that Japan is keen on forging a visiting forces agreement (VFA) with the Philippines, which would be called the Reciprocal Access Agreement.
Marcos Jr. and his delegation landed at Haneda International Airport at about 5:35 p.m. for five-day official working visit to Japan.
"So the VFA equivalent [with Japan] hindi pa talaga namin napapag-usapan (We have not discussed it) formally 'yan (yet)," the President said in a chance interview aboard the presidential plane.
"I don't know if the Prime Minister [Kishida Fumio] will take it up -- if Prime Minister Kishida will take it up with me on this trip. But so far -- [there has] not been any formal proposals in that," he said.
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Pressed for his reaction on Japan's plan to support the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) so it can set up a base or station in Zambales, he said, "[The Japanese government's] Support sa (for the Philippine) Coast Guard matagal na yun (has been there for a long time)."
"Binibigyan tayo ng (We were given) Coast Guard vessels, so that kind of cooperation is ongoing. The next step is do the improvement, rehabilitation sa (in) Subic para sa (for the) Coast Guard, the President explained.
"Kasi (Because) naturally the reason behind this is they would like to have more patrols along up and down South China Sea para (so) we can assure the freedom of passage," Marcos Jr. stressed.
The President continued, "These things are ongoing and I think that --- I'm sure that Japan wants to develop more and make even more robust and closer our relationship, especially in that regard."
"But that's a new area because ang (our) dealings natin with Japan have always been at the G2G (government to government, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) aid, and of course, on the commercial side," he said.
"So this is a new element to our relationship because we are now talking about [the] security of the region. So being of course, all interested in the same thing in the region, I think [security] cooperation is not a bad thing," Marcos Jr. added.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.