MANILA: The Philippines plans to give US access to five military bases under a deal that could see US forces return to their giant former facility at Subic Bay.

The military bases will be made available for US forces to rotate aircraft, ships, equipment and troops, Manila’s chief negotiator of a new security pact said on Friday, as the Philippines looks to counter China’s rising power in the region.

A new 10-year military agreement, which also covers storage of equipment for maritime security and humanitarian assistance, was signed with the United States last week, hours before President Barack Obama arrived for a two-day visit to Manila.

The two countries are now in follow-up talks to select the Filipino bases, said defence undersecretary Pio Batino, the chief Filipino negotiator.

“Right now, the discussions would be ranging from three to five (Filipino military) bases,” he told reporters.

“That’s not the final, but that is the starting discussion point.”

The Philippines is offering Fort Magsaysay, a sprawling army base about 100 km

north of Manila that regularly hosts annual large-scale US-Filipino military exercises, Batino said.

He added “limited portions of Subic” would also be offered, but declined to identify the three other bases under consideration.

The Philippines intends to conclude the discussions not later than Sept. 30, Batino added.

The deal for increased US access is part of Philippine efforts to boost its weak military capabilities at a time of deep tensions with China over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea.

China claims most of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other countries in the region.

Subic, facing the South China Sea, was the former repair yard of the Japan-based US Pacific fleet.

American forces vacated it in 1992, along with nearby Clark Air Base, after the Philippine Senate refused to extend a bases treaty, ending nearly a century of major US military presence.