Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday in Washington DC, ahead of the meeting between Presidents Marcos and Trump.
Secretary Rubio and President Marcos underscored the importance of the ironclad United States-Philippines Alliance to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. They reaffirmed their shared commitment to deterrence and reinforcing freedoms of navigation and overflight in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Secretary Rubio and President Marcos discussed efforts to advance the United States’ and the Philippines’ shared prosperity, including through the Luzon Economic Corridor, by strengthening supply chains and delivering economic growth to both countries.
Both looked forward to maintaining regular high-level engagement between the United States and the Philippines as friends, partners, and allies, particularly ahead of the 80th anniversary of US-PH diplomatic relations in 2026.
At a separate occasion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted President Marcos at the Pentagon, where the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the US-PH Mutual Defense Treaty and discussed shared security concerns in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as recent advances in the long-standing US-PH Alliance.
“Our storied alliance has never been stronger or more essential than it is today,” Hegseth told Marcos. “Together, we remain committed to the mutual defense treaty. And this pact extends to armed attacks on our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels, including our coast guard, anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.”Â
According to Secretary Hegseth, the United States has identified the Asia-Pacific region as its priority theater, and it would work with the Philippines and other like-minded nations there to advance President Donald J. Trump’s peace through strength agenda.Â
Citing the success of the most recent iteration of the Balikatan military exercise, which involved the Philippines, the U.S. and more than 20 other nations, the Secretary said, “We’ve made rapid progress enhancing real deterrence and upholding a free and open Asia-Pacific through deepening our interoperability and expanding joint exercises, including the largest and most sophisticated exercise — Balikatan — ever conducted.” Â
Balikatan 2025, conducted on April 21-May 9, was the 40th iteration of the annual exercise and involved more than 14,000 participants. The exercise assessed readiness across multiple domains, including air, land, sea, cyber, information and space.Â
The recent Balikatan exercise, President Marcos said, has proven valuable, as evidenced by feedback from personnel within the Philippines military. He said, “Essentially, we’ve achieved our purpose, because they say they have learned a lot about how to operate together — not only with American forces, but also with forces around the Asia-Pacific and down to Australia and even to Canada and all of the other countries that have been involved.”
(photos courtesy of U.S. Department of Defense official website)
