PH matters for US: Strong alliance, people-to-people ties hailed

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 16, 2022): PH matters for US: Strong alliance, people-to-people ties hailed (By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora)

STRONG TIES. (From left) Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga, US Embassy Charge d' Affaires Heather Variava, and Department of National Defense Undersecretary Cardozo Luna, lead the launch of the East-West Center publication "Philippines Matters for America, America Matters for the Philippines" at the US Embassy Chancery Ballroom on Wednesday (June 15, 2022). According to the publication, security relations between the two nations "remain strong", with the Philippines continuing to be the US' oldest ally in the Indo-Pacific. (PNA photo by Avito Dalan)

The decades-old alliance and people-to-people ties between the Philippines and the United States have remained strong over the past 75 years despite differences.

This is the message of the "Philippines Matters for America, America Matters for the Philippines” publication, launched at the US Embassy in Manila on June 15, which capped off the yearlong celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Philippines and the US' diplomatic relations.

Published by the East-West Center, the publication sums up important aspects of the two countries' bilateral relations, including security, trade and investments, health and environment, development assistance, culture, and people-to-people ties, among others.

“There is no doubt that the Philippines matters for the United States and the United States matters for the Philippines. As President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman when they met in Manila recently, the Philippines’ partnership with the United States ‘is not just a memory but a part of us,’" Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez said in his pre-taped remarks.

"This is true not only in terms of our government-to-government relations but in the close ties between our two peoples,” he added.

US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Heather Variava said the US is ready to take on the challenges and opportunities ahead, relying on the "deep trust and friendship" it has cultivated with the Philippines.

According to the publication, security relations between the two "remain strong", with the Philippines continuing to be the US' oldest ally in the Indo-Pacific.

In addition, Manila has a "major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally status" that provides the country benefits not only in defense and security cooperation but also in trade.

Given the changing geopolitical climate in the region, however, East-West Center Director Satu Limaye said Manila and Washington DC should continue to look at opportunities to strengthen this alliance.

This, he said, can include the two-plus-two process to look at "strategic elements in the relationships as well as contingency plans that might be required to protect our perspective security, including in the South China Sea."

"I think secondly, we should continue to look carefully at our Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and where there are opportunities to build on that and fully implement that," he told reporters in a presser.

"Third, I think it's really important to recommit to how the alliance, defense, and military security relationship has served both sides over the past 75 years. And to look for new ways in which to manage and to articulate that given the changing circumstances," he added.

But Limaye said what struck him the most about the two partners' 75-year relations was the strong and still growing people-to-people ties.

"Whatever differences have occurred in the official relationship over time, I'm really struck by the growing people-to-people relationship, not the declining. In other words, there's been a consistent upward trend in people-to people-relations, whether that's science, technology, commercial, education, school groups religious groups, civil society groups," he said.

The two currently share "robust educational exchanges," with more than 3,200 international students from the Philippines studying in the US and around 300 Americans in the Philippines during the 2019-2020 academic year alone.

Filipino-Americans are also the third-largest Asian ethnic group in the US, following Chinese and Indian Americans.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1176793