US envoy visits Cebu, EDCA site

MANILA, Philippines — The United States ambassador visited an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement site during his visit to Cebu last week.

Ambassador Lee Lipton toured the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base with Brig. Gen. Luisito Angeles Jr. to see the EDCA site where the US funded a $2.7-million (P162.8 million) fuel storage facility, and work is underway on logistical facilities that will support interoperability and disaster preparedness between American and Philippine armed forces.

Lipton also met with Philippine Air Force pilots and crew responsible for strategic airlift, including the operators of the S-70i Black Hawks originally developed in the US.

He and his wife Erika hosted the first US Independence Day reception in Mactan, Cebu on Thursday.

“We host an Independence Day event in Manila every year, but I knew that, for America’s 250th birthday, we also had to bring the celebration to the Queen City of the South,” Lipton said.

He noted that “US companies have invested nearly $400 million in Cebu and the broader Visayas region.”

In Lapu-Lapu City, Lipton showcased American excellence in health technology with a delivery of GeneXpert cartridges to enable quick, accurate, and easy tuberculosis detection. The delivery demonstrates the $600-million (P36 billion) health cooperation agreement between the US and the Philippines.

Lipton visited Glory Reborn, a nonprofit maternity and newborn health clinic whose CEO and founder is American doctor Hilary Overton. It hosts a Peace Corps Volunteer who supports its First One Thousand Days Nutrition Program.