Marcos says talks on Mutual Defense Treaty among his purposes for US visit

WASHINGTON - President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday (PH time) said the discussion on the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) is among the main purposes of his official visit to the United States.

Marcos reiterated that the decades-old defense agreement should evolve amid the developing security situation in the region.

He emphasized that the Philippines should also be responsive to the changes happening in the region, especially when it comes to the security sector.

“Well, that’s pretty much what we’re going to talk about now. The reason it has to evolve is because the conditions are changing. The conditions that — under which the Mutual Defense Treaty was written, the original one, are completely different from the conditions that we have — we’re facing now,” Marcos said.

“China, of course, has become a very dominant in the region. The United States has become less so. And so — but then the other player, i.e. like ASEAN Member States, all the Asian states have also changed their position in the world,” he added.

“And so, this is — that’s why we need to — that’s why we call it a continuing evolution because we have to be able to respond to the situation as it happens. Hindi… And once the situation changed, we should also still be able to be responsive to that. So ‘yun ang kanilang — pag-uusapan natin (we'll discuss it) and all of these things. So that’s really how — that’s really one of the main purposes of the visit,” he explained.

In February, United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III visited the Philippines and he mentioned that the US has reaffirmed its commitment to the MDT.

Under the said pact, Manila and Washington agreed that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on either the Philippines or the US would be dangerous and that they would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes. —KG, GMA Integrated News