"Certainly, we cannot afford to engage in conflict."
For many years, the Philippines has maintained cordial bilateral relations with the United States. Our diplomatic position has resulted in several mutual trade agreements, security and defense treaties, and military cooperation.
The United States is one of our largest export markets and supplier of imported goods. We are one of the major trading partners of the US. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in November 2019, export value to US amounted to US$890.06 million, while import value was at US$668.81 million.
The growth of our gross domestic product has been spurred by American investors in the country. In the past 20 years, the establishment and expansion of business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies helped accelerate our economic growth. It has also provided job opportunities to millions of Filipinos.
In terms of security, our armed forces have conducted several joint military exercises and training with the US troops for many years. This significantly improved our combat skills, military capability, and disaster relief response. We have also acquired vessels and other modern military equipment from them which improved our leverage over our maritime domain and allowed us to patrol our waters and conduct swift search and rescue operations.
We also received humanitarian assistance from the US in times of calamity. Aside from that, US agencies and organizations have conducted programs and provided assistance on education, health care, environmental management, inclusive economic growth, and sustainable peace and order in many parts of the country.
As with any relationship, there have been situations that have marred the general cordiality between our two nations. One of which may have been the signing of the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) by President Trump in December 2018. The ARIA pursues policies involving US interests on security, promotion of human rights, rule of law, accountability and transparency in the Indo-Pacific region, and provides appropriations in the implementation of said policies. While we have accorded the respect and diplomacy due to them in their diplomatic matters, this law has the look, and feel of an infringement into our sovereignty.
Albeit we are far from our impasse, we should have a bigger picture perspective here. Any action that affects our bilateral relations must be carefully studied.
In light of the events that led to the President’s decision, I am confident that the administration will consider the welfare of the people benefitting from our bilateral programs, especially those which we cannot independently provide. Let us veer away from the myopic view and reflect on the overall impact to our country. What do we really need right now? One thing for sure, we cannot afford to engage in conflict.