MANILA (Reuters) – US-Philippines ties are going through “bumps on the road” and the Philippine military could manage if treaty ally the United States were to withdraw aid, the defence minister said yesterday.
The Philippines intended to buy arms from China and Russia and there had been no adverse reaction from within the military to President Rodrigo Duterte’s vows to scale back defence ties with the United States, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana’s remarks suggested he was following other top officials in Duterte’s administration in rallying behind the maverick president’s tough anti-US agenda after weeks of scrambling to manage the fallout from his outbursts and threats to downgrade the alliance.
Lorenzana had on Wednesday set a conciliatory tone, saying Duterte may have been misinformed when he said US-Philippine military exercises were no benefit to his country.
But yesterday Lorenzana said the value of US military aid to the Philippines was “not that much”, and the military could ask Congress to make up for a shortfall of some $50 million-$100 million a year in US military aid.
“We can live without (that),” Lorenzana told a foreign correspondents’ forum.
Duterte, well known for a ruthless stand against crime from his years as mayor of a southern city, won election in May on a promise to wipe out drugs and drug dealers.
Some 3,600 people have been killed in his anti-drugs drive and he has been enraged by questions about human rights, from the United States and others, that the bloodshed has raised.
Duterte said on Thursday if the United States and European Union objected to his drugs war and wished to withdraw aid, they should do so, and the Philippines would not beg.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby responded to that saying total US assistance to the Philip-pines in the fiscal year that began on October 1 was $180 million “and we’re committed” to delivering that.
Lorenzana said he believed Duterte’s objective was to diversify Philippines’ foreign ties and cut dependency on former colonial ruler the United States.
“The president is trying to develop a relationship with the US that is not too dependent on one country,” he said.
Duterte has caused a diplomatic storm by declaring that joint US-Philippines military exercises would cease, a defence agreement would be reviewed and, at an undisclosed time, he might “break up” with the United States.
On Monday, Duterte said US President Barack Obama should “go to hell”.
Lorenzana said there had been no official directive to scrap a two-year-old Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement. He said the uncertainty in the US-Philippines relationship was “just going through these bumps on the road”.
“Maybe we should re-assess (the relationship),” he said. “Are we benefiting, are we getting what we should be getting from alliance? It is part of this growing up.”
He said Duterte was sensitive to concerns about his drugs war and it was likely the president would dial down his rhetoric if questions from the West about human rights stopped.
