US Marine Corps chief visits Philippines, cites bilateral ties

MANILA, Philippines — The commandant of the United States Marine Corps has visited the Philippines and met with senior military officials to discuss the US-Philippine alliance and future bilateral exercises.

During his visit from Sept. 10 to 11, Gen. David Berger cited the importance of training between the US and Philippine Marine Corps as well as opportunities for future engagements.

The US embassy in Manila said it was the first visit to the Philippines by a US Marine Corps commandant since August 2017.

Berger met with Armed Forces of the Philippines vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Erickson Gloria, Philippine Navy flag-officer-in-command Rear Admiral Adeluis Bordado and Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ariel Caculitan.

He also visited the US Marines assigned to the embassy.

Berger stressed the importance of the US-Philippine alliance in maintaining peace and stability in the region while improving interoperability to respond to crisis and contingencies.

“This is a very important trip for me to visit leaders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in person,” Berger said. “Our defense cooperation has been the cornerstone of 70 years of close and strengthening partnership.”

The US and the Philippines agreed to resume defense projects after President Duterte retracted in July the letter that would have terminated the US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III met at the Pentagon on Sept. 10 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty and discuss ways to deepen the alliance.

Austin said the US commitment to the Philippine security is “ironclad” and that Washington’s treaty commitments “extend to Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea.”

The two also discussed the importance of increased military and security cooperation to support Philippine defense modernization efforts and build alliance interoperability.

They agreed to undertake a number of new initiatives that would ensure the bilateral alliance is postured to address new and emerging challenges.

These include developing a joint vision statement on shared priorities for the next phase of US-Philippine alliance cooperation; concluding a bilateral maritime framework that advances military activities and cooperation in the maritime space; resuming infrastructure improvement projects at Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement agreed locations in the Philippines and re-convening the bilateral strategic dialogue this year.

Meanwhile, Berger paid a courtesy call on Navy chief Bordado where they agreed to sustain their organizations’ long-standing relationship and strengthen training and other areas of collaboration.

“Our Philippine Marine Corps is modernizing, your experience as a big marine corps can help us to modernize our capability and capacity,” Bordado told Berger during the courtesy call.