Philippines and Australia sign their new defence pact in Manila as Albanese looks on

The Philippines and Australia signed a new Defence Cooperation Arrangement in Manila on Sunday, 15 November, updating a framework that dates back three decades. Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Australia's ambassador to Manila, Marc Innes-Brown, signed the document at Manila South Harbor while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the city for the 49th ASEAN summit and related meetings, watched, Rappler reported.

The arrangement supersedes a 1995 memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation. The two countries committed to that update in a statement of intent signed in 2025, and at their third defence ministers' meeting in Darwin on 7 August 2026, Teodoro and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles agreed that the new arrangement would set the contemporary framework for their defence relationship.

Australian reporting before the ceremony said the pact covers enhanced maritime awareness and maritime activities, information sharing, strategic dialogue, planning, training, interoperability and the development of defence infrastructure. SBS News said it was understood to include closer interoperability between the two navies.

Built on years of joint activity

The new framework sits on top of arrangements that already let the two militaries work closely. A Status of Visiting Forces Agreement has been in place since 2012, easing access for each country's troops to the other's territory for training and disaster response, and the relationship was raised to a strategic partnership in September 2023.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 Australian Defence Force personnel train with Philippine forces every year, according to AAP. SBS News reported that Australia has joined 12 joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea over the past three years, four of them in the last year, most recently in August with the replenishment ship HMAS Supply, an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and a P-8A surveillance aircraft.

Australia is also funding construction on Philippine soil. Eight Australia-supported infrastructure projects are under way at Philippine military bases, according to the Indo-Pacific Defense Forum, while the Joint Australian Training Team in the Philippines more than doubled its activity in 2025, running over 20 training events for about 1,100 personnel. The August ministerial statement said the Philippines will keep full sovereignty over all the sites involved.

Why it matters

The deal lands as tension with China in the South China Sea stays high. In their August statement, Teodoro and Marles voiced serious concern about dangerous conduct by Chinese coast guard ships at Second Thomas Shoal that injured Philippine Navy personnel, and welcomed growing cooperation on surveillance, including Philippine support for Australia's MC-55A Peregrine intelligence aircraft.

Ian Hall, an international relations professor at Griffith University, told SBS News that Australian surveillance aircraft already fly from Philippine bases and that such access matters greatly to Canberra. Manila-based analyst Jose Custodio told the Indo-Pacific Defense Forum that the move to a formal cooperation arrangement shows the partnership heading towards operational integration.

The two forces are lining up larger drills. A Philippine frigate, BRP Diego Silang, took part in Australia's Exercise Kakadu in March 2026, and Philippine fighter jets flew in Exercise Pitch Black in mid-2026. Australian and Philippine troops will be joined by US and other partner forces for the third Exercise Alon in 2027.

Albanese was also due to visit Australian personnel aboard HMAS Stalwart, which is docked in Manila, before joining ASEAN leaders and a Quad leaders' meeting with the United States, Japan and India during his stay.