US-Phl agree on close defense cooperation

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and the US on Tuesday agreed to conduct “frequent and energized consultations” to boost defense ties in a meeting that also tackled the rebalancing of Washington’s forces in the Pacific.

These matters were discussed during the call of US Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Camp Aguinaldo.

“Frequent and energized consultations with the US Defense Department in the coming months [are] seen to boost the defense cooperation between the Philippines and United States,” the Department of National Defense (DND) said in a statement.

DND spokesman Peter Galvez said consultations would facilitate an “easier exchange of information.”

The two security officials also tackled the “central role” of the Philippines in the region and ways to maintain peace and stability.

“Dr. Carter also explained that the rebalancing of US forces is a broad engagement geared towards the promotion of economic stability in the region,” DND said.

Galvez said the “rebalancing” act of US could benefit the Philippines in several aspects.

“It’s [rebalancing] a broad approach and a broad engagement of region, so we will be affected in several aspects, economic and tourism,” the defense official said.

“What they want is for [the rebalancing] to be mutually beneficial,” he added.

Last year, the US announced plans to deploy majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020.

Then US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the move was in line with the US’s efforts to boost its presence in the Asia Pacific.

Panetta said the US naval assets would be realigned from a roughly 50-50 split between the Pacific and the Atlantic to about 60-40 split between those oceans.

Also discussed during the meeting between Gazmin and Carter was the US’s support to the Philippine military’s upgrade efforts.

“The visits are a good way for us to strengthen our personal relationships with the people we usually work with. Both the Philippines and the United States will benefit (from) our frequent and energized consultations with our US counterpart,” Gazmin said.

Carter served as Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition Technology and Logistics from 2009 to 2011. He holds a doctorate degree in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford.

Carter was also the head of the International and Global Affairs faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He was a co-director of the Preventive Defense Project and a member of the President’s Management Council and the National Council on Federal-Labor-Management Relations.