Simply put. The Philippines simply cannot prevent China from seizing any island it claims in the South China Sea or fishing in its waters. Nor will the US go to war to protect Philippine claims or to counter China’s actions in the region. There were and are consequences to the Philippine decision to oust the US from Subic Bay naval and Clark Air Force base.
Clark and Subic would be utterly useless today. These were rear area bases, shipyards and aviation maintenance, medical, HR, heavy logistics, etc - all just fixed targets now. China is too close given modern weapons systems. South China is an hour away by fighter bomber.
The Philippines is on the frontline. Current basing plans are to fly in fighting units, missile launchers and aircraft, to operate directly. These will be numerous fighting bases, from which US forces will directly shoot at the enemy, or launch aircraft on operational sorties. These are also meant to be temporary and easily shifted or withdrawn. The current bases agreement has opened the whole country as a “base”.
“The Philippines simply cannot prevent China from seizing any island it claims in the South China Sea”
The Philippines, can, now, make it costly to do so. It now has the capacity to shoot back.