[8] Evan S. Medeiros, a former U.S. National Security Council's senior director for Asian affairs was quoted in The Washington Post as saying, "This is the most significant defense agreement that we have concluded with the Philippines in decades.

The purpose of the Treaty was to "strengthen the fabric of peace" in the Pacific, by formally adopting an agreement to defend each other's territory in the case of external attack.

The treaty was rejected because of US reluctance to set a firm time frame for troop withdrawal and to guarantee that no nuclear weapons would pass through the base.

[13] The signing of the VFA led to the establishment of annual bilateral military exercises between the US and the Philippine known as Balikatan, as well as a variety of other cooperative measures.

At the immediate request of the Philippine government, US and international relief agencies arrived three days after the storm to provide aid and assistance to the thousands of injured and homeless.

While outlining new defense-cooperation measures, the agreement also allows for the United States to respond more quickly to environmental and humanitarian disasters in the region.

[20] Designed to supplement the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, the EDCA reaffirms mutual cooperation between the United States and the Philippines to develop their individual and collective capacities to resist armed attack by: improving interoperability of the two country's armed forces, promoting long-term modernization, helping maintain and develop maritime security, and expanding humanitarian assistance in response to natural disasters.

"[21] It hands over all operational controls of these "Agreed Locations" to the United States, and allows US forces to pre-position and store defense materiel, equipment, and supplies.

Importantly, the United States is not allowed to establish any permanent military bases, and must hand over any and all facilities in the "agreed locations" to the Philippine government upon the termination of the agreement.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and US Ambassador Sung Kim led the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a human assistance and disaster relief warehouse at Basa Air Base in the province of Pampanga.

[30][31] On April 3, 2023, the locations of the four new EDCA sites—three in north Luzon facing Taiwan, and one in Palawan facing the South China Sea—were announced:[32] The governors of Isabela and Cagayan, which together host three of the bases, expressed dismay at the agreement, stating they had not been consulted on the sites and did not want their provinces to pay too much for the infrastructure improvements or become potential targets of Chinese nuclear attack.

[33] Former President Duterte expressed doubts that "America will die for us [Filipinos]"; he added Americans "have so many ships, so you [they] do not need my island as a launching pad".