The 2014 defense agreement that allows Washington five temporary installations at Philippine bases will be honored, according to Delfin Lorenzana, Manila’s Defense Secretary.
Lorenzana told reporters, "It will remain. No, it will not be abrogated. But we will reduce the number of activities." He added, however, that the marine amphibious landing exercise Philbex would be scrapped, along with CARAT, a series of cooperation afloat readiness and training exercises.
Duterte has been threatening to end cooperative military exercises with US, ever since President Barack Obama criticized the Philippines’ war on drugs. In an early October interview the brash statesman told the American president, "Instead of helping us, the first to criticize is this State Department, so you can go to hell, Mr. Obama, you can go to hell." Duterte later told the European Union, following similar criticism of his violent policies, that they had "Better choose purgatory, hell is filled up."
The Philippines’ president has expressed interest in holding military exercises with Russia and China, particularly in anti-terrorism efforts. Last month he told Hong Kong Television that he had "given enough time for the Americans to play with the Filipino soldiers."
Lorenzana said that he and other defense officers were able to convince Duterte to maintain the exercises by reminding him of the two countries’ past military cooperation. He also noted that the details of the reduced exercises are yet to be discussed with their US counterparts.
"We presented to him the long years of bilateral relationship," he said. "The Armed Forces of the Philippines enumerated the benefits obtained from these exercises.”
The military issue is also what prompted Duterte to infamously call Obama a "son of a whore," with the US president canceling a scheduled meeting with the Philippines president as a result.
