The upcoming visit of United States Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth to the country later this week shows the “iron-clad” alliance between the Philippines and US, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said Tuesday, March 25.
Hegseth will meet Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on March 28 for a bilateral meeting. He will also meet President Marcos Jr. in Malacañan.
“This visit reaffirms what our long-time ally, the United States, has always been saying before, that their commitment to us is iron-clad, as well as their support to our military and the strengthening of our alliances,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said.
This marks the first time that the two defense chiefs would meet in person since US President Donald Trump took office at the White House in January.
On February 5, Hegseth and Teodoro held an introductory phone call to discuss defense cooperation in the US-Philippines alliance. The two countries are bound by the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), a 1951 agreement where they pledged to defend each other in the event of a third-party attack.
Padilla noted that Hegseth’s visit will take place on the heels of the preparation of the AFP and US Armed Forces for the 40th iteration of Exercise Balikatan. The annual military exercise between the two countries will kick off next month.
“So, we look at this as an opportunity for our Balikatan exercises, which is going to be one of the biggest again, to have more activities and more exercises on live fire exercises and different activities as well,” Padilla noted.
According to the US DOD, Hegseth’s visit will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen Washington’s alliances and partnerships toward its shared vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The US DOD noted that Hegseth seeks to “advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with U.S. and Philippine forces” while he is in Manila.
Hegseth's trip comes as the US builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security amid China’s growing presence in the Indo-Pacific region.