PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and United States President Donald Trump are expected to reaffirm the long-standing defense commitments between Manila and Washington while pursuing possible arrangements for the purchase of new fighter jets and the establishment of an ammunition hub in the Philippines.
“Essentially, it’s really the reaffirmation of all of these agreements that we have with the United States on our mutual defense, specifically surrounding the Mutual Defense Treaty. So, it will be more discussions on how we can continue to cooperate with the United States, our major ally,” Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said in a briefing on Sunday.
Romualdez said other defense-related agreements include the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), and various modernization and capability upgrading programs for the Armed Forces.
“At the same time also, I think President Marcos would like to see how we can work with the United States and other countries that have the same mindset as far as the West Philippine Sea is concerned. So, it will be on those general subjects of discussion,” he added.
Romualdez also expects the talks to possibly touch on the US’ plans to build an ammunition production facility in its former naval base at Subic Bay in Zambales, which the Philippines said would be beneficial to the country as it would create more jobs.
He said the US Congress has already taken the first step by approving the establishment of an ammunition production and storage facility last month.
“Obviously, we’re open to that one because it’s a good way of being able to have a combination of both defense and economic cooperation between the Philippines and the United States,” he said.
Romualdez also said the Philippines is further studying the proposal of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. for the Philippines to procure multi-role fighter jets from the US.
He said it is expensive but Teodoro had “made it clear that the Philippine priority is really more on the defense side” in terms of its cooperation with Washington.
The procurement of fighter aircraft is part of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, which aims to strengthen the country’s territorial defense capabilities.
Marcos arrived in Washington at 2:48 p.m. Sunday (2:48 a.m. Monday in Manila) for a three-day official visit highlighted by a meeting with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Romualdez said there is no negotiating around the US crackdown against illegal immigrants.
“I think at the end of the day, the laws of the United States must be respected, just like we expect citizens who come to the Philippines to also respect our laws,” he said.
He, however, said that the country has been assured that Filipinos facing deportation would be sent back to Manila instead of a third country.
“The bottom line is there is really not much room for discussion, but to simply work in such a way that all Filipinos that are up for deportation will be deported to the Philippines and not to a third country … we will make sure that they are deported to the Philippines,” he added.
Romualdez said he does not have the exact figures on the number of Filipinos facing deportation, but it could be up to 100,000.
He added that many of them could also be in California where there is a large concentration of Filipinos.
The US has been implementing a crackdown on undocumented immigrants since Trump’s return to office in January.
Romualdez said the Philippine Embassy is informed of operations against illegal immigrants only “when they see that it’s important for the Philippine Embassy to work with them on how we can repatriate these Filipinos.”
