Philippine defence chief plans to turn the Visayas Command into a central military logistics hub

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. says the armed forces' Visayas Command will be developed into a central logistics area serving both territorial defence and disaster response missions, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported on 12 November. He set out the plan in a statement late on 11 November, arguing that the command's position in the middle of the archipelago makes it the natural place to support operations in several directions.

According to the agency, Teodoro said the command would once again act as a logistics hub for territorial defence and internal security operations, supplying forces in the southern Philippines, the Mimaropa region to the west of the Visayas, and northern Mindanao. He also underlined the command's continuing role in internal security.

The command's two main installations are its headquarters at Camp Lapu-Lapu in Cebu City and the Brigadier General Benito N. Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, on Mactan island. Teodoro said both had already proved their worth as support bases when the region was hit by natural disasters. The command was known as the Central Command until it was renamed in August 2021.

The statement followed a visit to Cebu on 11 November, when Teodoro told reporters there was still no timetable for moving the command's headquarters out of Camp Lapu-Lapu, MyTV Cebu reported. He said the defence department was weighing the substantial cost of a relocation against other priorities, and wanted to be sure that any new site had enough space, electricity and water before a move went ahead.

Teodoro also said the department had to deal with requests from residents who need to pass around the camp, pointing to a retention area set aside under a compromise agreement. He said any transfer would have to be seamless, because the command also handles personnel services, joint and combined operations and assistance to military veterans. He spoke at a ceremony where he presented service medals to personnel who secured the ASEAN defence ministers' meetings held in Lapu-Lapu City in October.

The Mactan air base already hosts infrastructure built under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States. In January 2025 the Philippine Air Force took over a US-funded fuel storage facility at the base with two above-ground tanks holding more than 151,000 litres, Philstar reported at the time. The air force said then that the depot would support disaster relief as well as airlift, internal security and territorial defence missions. The base shares facilities with Mactan-Cebu International Airport and is home to the air force's 2nd Air Division.

The agreement, signed in 2014, lets US forces build facilities and preposition equipment at agreed Philippine military bases, but rules out permanent basing. In August, US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby said there had been a lot of progress at the agreed sites over the previous 18 months and that more was expected after his talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Teodoro, GMA News reported.

The plan points to a supply role for the central islands that sits behind the northern and western approaches where much of the country's territorial defence effort has been concentrated. The agency's report gave no cost or timetable for the logistics plan, and Teodoro's comments in Cebu suggest the headquarters question is still unsettled.