Philippines grateful for US military funding – Gibo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is grateful for the United States’ enduring support and the exemption of the country’s foreign military financing from foreign aid freeze, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said.

On Friday, the Philippines hosted US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his first official visit to Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

Teodoro emphasized that his counterpart’s visit showed the importance of the country’s bilateral alliance with the US.

The Philippines, he said, is gratified by the importance placed on the stability and enhancement of US-Philippines relationship as a linchpin of securing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

“We are grateful for the enduring support of the United States, including the State Department in part, in no small way, through the efforts of Secretary and the rest of the team, for a waiver of foreign military financing for the Philippines,” Teodoro said.

The US exempted a “portion” of its military assistance to the Philippines from its foreign aid freeze.

Hegseth met with President Marcos and Teodoro.

The result of the meetings, Hegseth said, was an understanding of how to not just continue with the status quo, but to “accelerate the progress in the US-Philippines alliance.”

“And as Secretary Hegseth said, we are going to work very closely, not only with our treaty ally, but with other like-minded partners in reestablishing deterrence,” Teodoro said.

“This will mean increase interoperational activities, joint exercises, realistic training in a myriad of scenarios to mirror what may be possible in the future, God forbid. However, we must be prepared to answer and to meet and even to deter any possibility in the future for our mutual defense and the defense of freedom and international law,” he said.

On Friday, Hegseth announced that the US and the Philippines have come together to work toward reestablishing military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The four-piece plan, which Hegseth said would build upon the US’ late July 2024 commitment of $500 million to modernize the Philippine military, includes an agreement that the US will deploy additional advanced military capabilities to the Philippines, plans for bilateral training between both nations for high-end operations, an agreement to prioritize bilateral defense industrial cooperation, and an agreement to launch a bilateral cyber campaign.

The Pentagon chief said that the US intends to send additional capabilities to the Philippine military.

The Defense Department will provide the Philippines with the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, for Exercise Balikatan.

Chinese foreign ministry ‘robotic’

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s “robotic” quality of statements is a product of limited worldview of a closed society, Teodoro said on Friday.

“We don’t practice propaganda in this country. We practice free speech and democracy. The Philippines is not a mouthpiece, unlike they themselves, who are mouthpieces of Xi Jinping,” Teodoro added.

China warned the Philippines ahead of Hegseth’s visit to Manila last week, urging the Philippine government to “stop serving as other countries’ mouthpiece” and refrain from being used as “chess pieces” in regional power games.

Beijing has also warned that nothing good can come from opening the door to a predator.