The Philippines and the United States will be conducting more joint maritime patrols in the upcoming months but that does not necessarily mean it is "directed against any country," Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez said Thursday.
In an interview with ANC, Romualdez said the two countries will have more defense activities as they are only one of the "aspects" of the Philippine relationship with the Western giant.
"It basically means that it is really for us to be able to have...interoperability that we will always be able to be ready if in the event there is a conflict," the envoy said.
He made the clarification as he bared that more joint patrols between the military both countries are already "on the table," which came on the heels of Chinese activities in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.
"This has been on the table for quite some time and I'm sure that at some point our defense establishment and the US defense establishment will come out with an operational plan to be able to have these joint patrols," Romualdez said.
In a press conference on Thursday, Ma. Teresita Daza, spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said discussions on the said activity "are work in progress."
In the early days of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s administration, Romualdez already disclosed that there would be more joint military activities between the Philippines and the US as that was "exactly what President Marcos was describing as an evolution of this Mutual Defense Treaty and alliance."
During the time of former President Rodrigo Duterte, such activities were suspended in a bid not to offend China, US' main rival in terms of influence in the Indo-Pacific region.