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1 [1] (September 29, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/govessl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congres Informing ib Kanal Rese r h Servic le t~ved bae ii .1914 Updated September 29, 2025 The Philippines Overview and Recent Deveopments 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. In late July, Philippine President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. visited the United States, meeting with President Donald Trump and the U.S. secretaries of defense and state. In addition to reaffirming the importance of the alliance, the two leaders agreed to a trade framework setting tariff rates on Philippine goods exports to the United States at 19%. The United States is the Philippines' third-largest trading partner, after China and Japan, and its largest export market. During Marcos' visit, the two sides also announced that the United States would provide over $60 million in new foreign assistance to support energy, maritime, and economic growth programs. In September 2025, the United States announced $250 million in foreign assistance to the Philippines to improve health systems, disease detection and response, and maternal and child health services. 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. Ph-pp nes Politics In 2022, Filipinos elected 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 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; on July 25, the Supreme Court dismissed the proceedings as unconstitutional, citing a lack of due process. In March 2025, Rodrigo Duterte was extradited to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity for his anti-drug war; he was formally charged in September. The U.S.-Phiippines Allance 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, with increasing tensions in the South China Sea, the U.S. and Philippine governments signed an 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'