Phl won’t slow down on int’l arbitration

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines  “will not slow down” its international arbitration effort to find a legal and lasting solution to the territorial dispute with China.

In a meeting with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Manila is committed to seeing arbitration proceedings to their conclusion.

Del Rosario provided Pentagon officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Peter Lavoy, an update on Manila’s efforts to peacefully resolve disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

Hagel underscored the critical role the Philippines is playing in the Asia-Pacific region, saying that the US-Philippine partnership is critical in that part of the world.

Del Rosario said both the Philippines and the US had agreed that strategic alliance was crucial and relevant amidst uncertainty and security challenges in the region.

The meeting with Del Rosario was Hagel’s first with a senior Philippine official since taking over the Pentagon in February. It followed a meeting, also on Tuesday, between Del Rosario and newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Also at the Pentagon meeting were Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr., Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for American Affairs Carlos Sorreta, Deputy Chief of Mission Maria Andrelita Austria, Defense Attache Brig. Gen. Cesar Yano, and Director Rosalita Prospero of the Office of American Affairs of the DFA.

Discussed at the meeting were the US support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization plan, the situations in Sabah and North Korea, and the grounding of the USS Guardian in Tubbataha Reef.

Meanwhile, the yearly Balikatan military exercises between the Philippines and the US is offi cially opening today with the US military sending a dozen F-18 fi ghter jets to the country.