President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has met with United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Malacañang where he expressed that the Philippines' future will "always have to involve" its long-time ally.

Austin and other US officials made a courtesy call to Marcos on Thursday morning, Feb. 2.

During the meeting, the President talked about the region's current situation geopolitically and recognized that it would be able to properly navigate it with the help of allies like the US.

He thanked Austin for visiting the country as it is an opportunity to discuss the country's outlook on the current geopolitical situation, specifically in the Asia Pacific region.

"Thank you for finding the time to come and be with us and perhaps exchange some ideas and thoughts, and comments, and information on the current situation geopolitically and of course more specifically here in the Asia Pacific region which has become a terribly complicated situation and it is something that we can only navigate properly with the help of our partners and our allies in the international sphere," Marcos told the visiting officials.

"I have always said, it seems to me the future of the Philippines and for that matter, the Asia Pacific, we’ll always have to involve the US simply because those partnerships are so strong and historically embedded in our common psyches," Marcos added.

The President also reiterated that the Philippines' relationship with the US is of "great importance" as the country traverses "this rather troubled waters, geopolitical waters, economic waters that we are facing."

Austin, in his opening remarks during the meeting, said the US will continue to work with the Philippines as it is a "key ally" of the foreign state.

"You made a number of comments about the strength of our relationship, I echo those comments. We do have a strong relationship and my goal, and certainly President Biden’s goal is to strengthen that relationship in every way possible," Austin told Marcos.

Austin also made a statement that the US will continue to support the Philippines in modernizing its defense capabilities and increasing interoperability.

He also expressed that the US stands ready to provide assistance to the country following the magnitude 6 earthquake in Mindanao.

"We stand ready to help in any way that we can and again, I think our AID personnel are in the area and they stand ready to help to provide humanitarian assistance where and when possible. So please don’t hesitate to reach out," Austin said.

Austin was the third high-ranking US official to visit the Philippines under Marcos time. US Vice President Kamala Harris was in Manila in November last year and State Secretary Antony Blinken flew to Manila in July last year.