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Philstar.com
February 25, 2025 | 5:35pm
Philippine coast guard personnel wave US and Philippine flags as the US coast Guard cutter Midgett docks at the international port in Manila on August 30, 2022.
AFP / Ted Aljibe
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines has welcomed the United States government's decision to exempt a portion of its military assistance to the Philippines from its 90-day suspension of all foreign aid.
During a press conference on Tuesday, February 25, military officials expressed optimism about the continuation of planned defense programs following the Trump administration's decision to issue a waiver for Philippine military funding.
According to a Reuters report published over the weekend, the US specifically exempted $336 million allocated for modernizing the Philippines' security forces. Other countries receiving exemptions include Taiwan and Ukraine.
"The unfreezing of the aid to the Philippines by the US government is a very much welcome development," said Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea. "This has been planned in advance. So there are already particular programs that higher headquarters has mapped out for this year and even in the years to come."
Trinidad noted that the exemption ensures previously planned initiatives will move forward. "With this particular unfreezing of the support by the US government, it only means that our programs that have been initially planned out will push through. This will include activities on sea, air, and land, and even our support systems, cyber, and other areas," he added.
AFP Spokesperson Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said the exemption strengthens the ties between the Philippines and the US.
"This is a welcome development on our part, and we are glad to continue. And it also signals basically our longstanding relationship with the US and the Philippines," the AFP spokesperson said.
The exemption comes after US President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping 90-day freeze on all foreign aid shortly after taking office on January 20.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday that the Philippines had received a waiver for a "portion" of US military financing.
While the US' military aid to the Philippines has been exempted, an earlier report by Philstar.com indicated that at least 39 USAID and State Department-funded programs worth approximately P4 billion remain affected by the broader aid suspension, including several health, education and environmental projects.
Last year, the Biden administration pledged $500 million in military funding to the Philippines to modernize its armed forces and Coast Guard. The funding package was described by then-US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as a "once in a generation investment."
When asked whether the $336 million exemption was part of the $500 million military funding pledged by the US last year, Rear Adm. Trinidad clarified that specific details about the funding packages would need to come from higher authorities.
"There are different packages that are taken up between the Department of Defense of the US and DND. Details of that could be provided further to the higher headquarters, especially the Department of National Defense," Trinidad said.
"On the items under each particular package, they are more in a position to elaborate on that. Suffice it to say, the move to unfreeze the 336 million package is a very much welcome development," he added. — Cristina Chi
