The Philippines is set to be one of the beneficiaries of an $8.1 billion aid package from the US government intended for its Indo-Pacific allies.
The US House of Representatives recently approved the Indo-Pacific Supplemental Appropriations Act, granting the said emergency aid package to Taiwan, the Philippines, and other allies in the Indo-Pacific.
US Rep. Darrell Issa introduced an amendment to the bill encouraging the US State Department to allocate $500 million in Foreign Military Financing to the Philippines.
The act is part of a package of bills worth $95 billion in total that will send aid to key allies around the world, including Ukraine and Israel.
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez thanked the US House for the grant, saying it would benefit Filipinos amid escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
“This multifaceted assistance package reaffirms America’s steadfast commitment to promoting peace, prosperity, and security in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Romualdez said in a statement.
The four-bill package also includes a measure that imposes new limits on the Chinese- owned social media app TikTok.
The Senate is expected to pass the measure next week, sending it to US President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Earlier this month, the Philippines and the United States held an “unprecedented” bilateral meeting involving its top security officials as the allied countries pushed to “further concretize our deepening security partnership” amid China’s “escalation of its harassment” in the South China Sea.
Philippine Navy Flag Officer In Command, Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr., received the Commanding General of the United States’ 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), Lieutenant General Michael Cederholm, during his visit at the Navy headquarters on Monday, April 22.
The said courtesy call, which came on the heels of the opening ceremony of Balikatan 2024, was a platform of fruitful exchanges about strengthening the coordination and interoperability between the Philippines and US forces toward the promotion of regional security and the protection of shared interests.
Likewise discussed were the impact of this annual bilateral exercise to the modernization efforts of the Philippine Navy, the troop deployment across different operational areas during the exercise, and the cyber warfare as an emerging domain, reflecting a proactive approach to evolving security challenges.