US to provide Philippines $500 million in military aid

MANILA, Philippines — United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will announce $500 million in foreign military financing for the Philippines to help its oldest treaty ally in Asia bolster its defenses, the US Department of Defense said.

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet their counterparts – Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo – for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue tomorrow.

The Philippines and the US will discuss ways to deepen coordination on shared challenges, including in the South China Sea, when the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries meet for the 2+2 Dialogue to be held in Manila for the first time.

Austin and Blinken will also build upon recent strides in the long-standing US-Filipino defense relationship.

The two countries have designated four new US rotational access sites in the Philippines as part of the 2023 expansion of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which was first signed in 2014.

The nine sites are designed to strengthen combined training, exercises and interoperability between the two countries.

“During their visit in Manila, Austin and Blinken will announce that the US is providing $500 million in foreign military financing through the recent national security supplemental passed by Congress in the spring,” the Defense Department said.

A senior defense official said, “This unprecedented provision of security assistance, which is an order of magnitude greater that what we’ve recently provided to the Philippines on an annual basis, will be a critical enabler of the Philippine defense moderation already underway.”

The Philippines is on the front line of South China Sea tensions following the incident on June 17 in which the China Coast Guard forcibly blocked Philippine boats that would deliver food and provisions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) that left at least eight Filipinos injured – with one losing a finger – and several others disarmed and their inflatable boats punctured by the Chinese.

The confrontation saw Chinese personnel arming themselves with knives, bolos and axes.
China’s biggest coast guard ship, “The Monster,” was seen intruding in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal just days after the June 17 incident.

The monster ship conducted another intrusive patrol in Ayungin Shoal, just a day after the Philippines and China agreed to de-escalate tensions in the West Philippine Sea through a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism meeting in Manila early this month.

The US and the Philippines have a Mutual Defense Treaty that obligates the two countries to help defend one another in any major conflict.

During their visit, Blinken and Austin will also meet with President Marcos to explore additional ways to capitalize on the unprecedented momentum in the United States-Philippines alliance.

Austin, on his 11th trip to the Indo-Pacific, noted that the US has nearly doubled its military construction investments in the Indo-Pacific over the last fiscal year, and has continued to make significant improvements to its force posture in the region.

He underscored the “historic” achievements and notable progress that have been made in the Philippines with expanded base access for US military personnel serving on a rotational basis, despite US-Philippines ties being at a low point during the Duterte administration.

Over the past three and a half years, Austin noted that great progress has been made in building US alliances and partnerships around the globe and strengthening security, including the Philippines.