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1 [1] (May 27, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/philpins0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Inforrinhg the legislative debate since 1914 The Philippines Updated May 27, 2025 Overview and Recent Developments The United States and the Republic of the Philippines maintain a relationship that includes a bilateral security alliance, extensive military cooperation, close people-to- people ties, and many shared strategic and economic interests. The United States administered the Philippines as a colonial territory (1898-1946) after 300 years of Spanish rule. There are over 4 million Filipino Americans, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates its only office outside of the United States in Manila, serving thousands of veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Situated east of the South China Sea and south of Taiwan, the Philippines has long played an important role in U.S. Asia policy as a security and counterterrorism partner. The 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) requires the two countries to help defend each other against external armed attack. Rising tensions between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) over maritime claims in the South China Sea are a potential regional flashpoint. Trump Administration officials have reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the Philippines, including by continuing $500 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) pledged under the Biden Administration and approving the sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets. Other parts of the bilateral relationship may be impacted by Trump Administration moves on trade and foreign assistance. The United States is the Philippines' third- largest trading partner, after China and Japan, and its largest export market. The United States provided nearly $265 million in foreign assistance to the Philippines in FY2023, the majority of which was administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). U.S. assistance sought to promote economic development, the rule of law, human rights, health, education, and environmental management, as well as military assistance administered by the Departments of State and Defense. Trump Administration reductions to U.S. foreign assistance, including the cancellation of existing programs, may affect 95% of U.S. assistance to the Philippines, according to the Center for Global Development. Congress has provided oversight, policy direction, and funding to shape the U.S. relationship with the Philippines, which is located in the first island chain in the Pacific and could play a key role in a regional conflict. Members of Congress have sought to shape U.S. policy on human rights and counterterrorism in the Philippines, as well as security cooperation related to the South China Sea. Philippines Politics In 2022, Filipinos elected Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. as president and Sara Duterte-Carpio as vice president. Marcos's father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., ruled the country from 1965 to 1986, including through martial law from 1972 until he was ousted by the 1986 People Power Revolution. Sara Duterte-Carpio is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte (in office 2016-2022). The Philippine constitution limits both the president and vice president, who are elected on separate tickets, to one six- year term. The Philippines held midterm elections in May 2025, in which Marcos-aligned candidates fared poorly compared to pre-election polling. Prior to the election, the vice president was impeached in the House of Representatives for corruption and voicing a threat against the president, and Rodrigo Duterte was extradited to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity for his anti-drug war. The U.S.-Philippines Alliance In 1992-in the face of vocal Philippine opposition to U.S. military bases and during a period of relative peace and stability following the fall of the Soviet Union-the U.S. military withdrew from the two bases it had operated since the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). In 1998, the two countries signed a Visiting Forces Agreement. In 2014, as tensions in the South China Sea were on the rise, the U.S. and Philippine governments signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), allowing the rotational presence of U.S. military forces, aircraft, and ships at agreed locations in the Philippines. The two countries agreed to increase the number of Philippine military bases open to U.S. forces from five to nine in February 2023. Figure I. The Philippines at a Glance In May 2023, the two allies established new Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which aim to help modernize Philippine defense capabilities, deepen interoperability, enhance bilateral planning and information-sharing, and combat transnational and nonconventional threats. The guidelines appear to reinforce treaty obligations, stating that an armed attack anywhere in the South China Sea, on either party's armed forces-which includes both nations'

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