Philippines-US drills 'unaffected' by Duterte remarks

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) - The Armed Forces of the Philippines said Friday that joint military exercises with the United States will not be affected after President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration that Manila will pursue an “independent foreign policy”.

Public affairs chief Col. Edgard Arevalo was quoted by GMA News as saying, “the joint exercises will not be affected as it was already scheduled and there was no statement that the scheduled will be scrapped."

Earlier this week, Duterte declared he no longer wants the Philippines to participate in joint sea patrols with other countries -- seemingly again turning his nose up at the U.S. after calling for American Special Forces to withdraw from the troubled southern island of Mindanao.

The U.S. -- the Philippines’ long-time ally and former colonizer -- has long deployed special forces soldiers to train and advise local units fighting the Abu Sayyaf in the south, but the program -- which once involved 1,200 Americans -- was discontinued in 2015, although a small presence has remained.

Expressing his objection to the Philippines being involved in any hostile acts in "someone else’s territory", Duterte had said, “I don’t want to ride gung-ho style there with China or with America... I just want to patrol our territorial waters.”

The armed forces’ Arevalo insisted Friday that talks remain ongoing about the next leg of joint exercises.

He added that the Philippines would also push through with annual and regular exercises involving other allies such as "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) -- widely seen as a demonstration of Manila's continued military alliance with Washington.

He, however, did not elaborate on the exact date of the next Balikatan maneuvers -- the latest of which was held in April.

After Duterte warned that the U.S. military presence would worsen conditions in Mindanao -- where several armed Muslim groups, including those involved in an ongoing peace process with the government, and a communist insurgency operate -- Manila's top diplomat clarified Tuesday that there would be no policy shift in the country's alliance with Washington.

During a following visit to Washington, however, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. underlined Thursday that the U.S. should not lecture the Philippines on human rights.

“We cannot be forever the little brown brothers of America at one point in time," local media quoted him as saying at a think tank.