Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. sat down with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles on October 28 on the fringes of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meetings in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, with both sides moving closer to sealing a formal defense cooperation pact next month.
Bilateral Pact Set for Presidential-Level Signing
The Department of National Defense (DND) said in a statement dated October 29 that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are expected to sign the Defense Cooperation Arrangement (DCA) during the ASEAN Summit in November 2026. The DND described the arrangement as the framework that will govern contemporary bilateral defense relations between the two nations.
According to the DND, the DCA will replace and modernize the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation that the Philippines and Australia signed in 1995. A Statement of Intent on Enhanced Defense Cooperation, signed in 2025, had already committed both governments to updating that decades-old agreement ahead of the formal DCA.
Earlier Darwin Meeting Laid the Groundwork
The Cebu meeting built on the 3rd Philippines-Australia Defense Ministers' Meeting held in Darwin, Australia, on August 7, 2026, according to the DND. It was at that Darwin session that Teodoro and Marles announced headway toward concluding the DCA, with a joint statement from that gathering confirming the pact's scope and intent.
Regional Security and China's Actions on the Agenda
The DND said the October 28 talks covered the regional security environment, with both officials focusing specifically on what the DND characterized as China's "expansionist ambitions and coercive actions."
Wider Defense Cooperation Areas Explored
Teodoro and Marles also took up the broadening of defense cooperation across multiple domains, the DND said. Topics included maritime domain awareness, joint training and exercises, intelligence sharing, and defense infrastructure development. The two sides likewise discussed potentially opening bilateral training activities to other Status of Visiting Forces Agreement partners, according to the DND.
Exercise ALON Slated to Grow in Scale
Both ministers discussed the future trajectory of Exercise ALON, the large-scale bilateral military exercise between the Philippines and Australia. The DND said both sides agreed to grow the exercise in scale and complexity with each successive iteration, though no specific timeline or venue for future iterations was included in the DND statement.
Philippines at the Helm of 2026 ASEAN Defense Meetings
As 2026 ASEAN chair, the Philippines hosted the 20th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the 13th ADMM-Plus on October 28 and 29 in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, with Teodoro presiding over both sessions. The meetings brought together defense ministers from 11 ASEAN member states and eight dialogue partners, Australia among them.
The DND added that Teodoro also held separate bilateral meetings with defense counterparts from Malaysia and Singapore on the sidelines of the same event. The department said the Teodoro-Marles meeting "demonstrates the commitment of both countries to regional stability and security, and to upholding international law and the rules-based international order."
Source: Department of National Defense