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Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star
March 28, 2026 | 12:00am
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and French Minister for the Armed Forces and Veterans Catherine Vautrin sign the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement in Paris yesterday.
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has signed its Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with France, the country’s first with a European partner, on the sidelines of the ongoing 2026 Paris Defense and Strategy Forum.
The defense cooperation partnership was sealed during a bilateral meeting between Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and French Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin on Thursday, at École Militaire in Paris.
“Today, we signed the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and France, only one year after His Excellency, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. authorized us to begin negotiations,” Teodoro announced.
“We were able to reach this stage in record time because of the fact that our two countries have had years of trust and confidence in working and dealing with one another. We have shared values, shared objectives and shared visions for both our future and current generations,” Teodoro said.
The SOVFA will serve as the primary document to facilitate a wider range of defense cooperative activities between the Philippine and French armed forces in the territory of either country.
The SOVFA will be instrumental in developing the two countries’ interoperability in emergency and disaster response, maritime security and domain awareness and other mutually beneficial areas to more effectively contribute to regional and global security.
“This is a function of stewardship in several things, in enhancing both our individual and collective defense capabilities and secondly, also equally important, is to protecting the international order under the regime of international law to include fundamental peremptory treaty in the world in 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Teodoro said.
He said the agreement with France paves the way for the Philippines’ greater defense cooperation with partners in Europe and beyond.
