Obama to visit maritime facility in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — American President Barack Obama, who is expected to arrive in Manila on Tuesday, will drop by a "coastal facility" during his visit, the White House said.

Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the United States president will make a side trip to an unspecified coastal area while in the Philippines to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

"[President Obama is] going to a coastal facility in the Philippines to showcase our maritime cooperation with the Philippines," Rhodes said in a press briefing in Washington on November 12.

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Rhodes cited Obama's scheduled visit to the facility as an example of how he broadens reach to different sectors beyond engaging with other leaders at summits.

Obama is among the leaders from 21 different APEC member-economies, including the Philippines, who will participate in the high-level meeting.

The US president's trip also marks his second in the Philippines in the past two years amid the ongoing maritime disputes of the US' Southeast Asian ally with neighboring China.

White House Press Secretary John Earnest said in the same briefing that while the South China Sea row is not listed on the official agenda at the APEC meetings, it can likely be a "prominent discussion among world leaders" gathered there.

"And while the United States, of course, makes no claim in the South China Sea, we are quite concerned about protecting freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the South China Sea," Earnest said.

Ernest Bower, a senior adviser at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this will be Obama's last trip to the Philippines as president and "likely the last by a US president for several years."

The US will hold presidential elections next year, with the new leader taking office in early 2017.

"Therefore, Obama's visit to Manila could be a recommitment of his rebalance to the Asia Pacific, underlining tangible support for the US-Philippine alliance through serious investment in helping to modernize the defense capabilities of the Philippine armed forces through the EDCA," Bower said.

Referring to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Bower said Obama's trip will be an "action-forcing" event as the executive agreement allowing the stationing of US troops on a rotating basis in the Philippines lies in the hands of the Supreme Court.