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US DEFENSE CHIEF. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a meeting with Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey (not pictured) at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, U.S., March 6, 2025.
Kent Nishimura/REUTERS
US Defense Secreary Pete Hegseth will be the highest-ranking US official to visit the Philippines under the second Trump presidency thus far
MANILA, Philippines – US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to visit the Philippines to “advance security objectives,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Saturday, March 22 (Manila time).
This will be Hegseth’s first visit to the Philippines as the head of the vast US Defense Department. Manila will be the third stop in a week-long swing for Hegseth, who will first travel to the state of Hawaii next week, followed by Guam, before visiting the Philippines and then Japan, Parnell said.
“Secretary Hegseth’s trip comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security,” Parnell said in a statement.
Hegseth is set to meet Philippine leaders, as well as American and Filipino forces, during his visit here.
“These engagements will drive ongoing efforts to strengthen our alliances and partnerships toward our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Parnell.
“And as always, the Secretary looks forward to some great PT (physical training) with the troops!” he added.
The state of Hawaii is the base of the Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom), the older and largest unified command in the United States military. Indopacom’s area of responsibility covers the “west coast of the US to the western border of India, and from Antarctica to the North Pole.” It’s an area that includes waters and airspace adjacent to the Philippines, a US treaty-ally.
Guam, an unincorporated US territory, plays a huge role in the superpower’s footprint in the region. Over 25% of land in Guam is owned by the US Department of Defense.
Both the Philippines and Japan are US allies. Under the previous US administration, then-president Joe Biden hosted the first-ever trilateral leaders summit between the three countries in the White House.
Hegseth will be the highest official in the second Donald Trump administration to visit the Philippines. He had also earlier spoken to his Filipino counterpart, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., through a phone call.
Other high-ranking American officials have also had phone calls or face-to-face meetings with Philippine Cabinet officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has had both phone meetings and a face-to-face bilateral meeting with Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo, while US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had earlier met with Teodoro.
Trump and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had also spoken on the phone, although this was before Trump began his second term as US president. Philippine officials are eyeing a Spring 2025 visit to the White House for a possible meeting between the two heads of state.
Hegseth’s visit comes just two months into the new United States administration and the upending of its policies both domestically and internationally.
Even as the US has changed its stance on Russia’s war on Ukraine while doubling down on its support of Israel’s war on Gaza, it has spoken little of its strategy and view of the Indo-Pacific.
Under Biden and Marcos, bilateral ties between the two long-time treaty-allies were on “hyperdrive,” as the Philippines expanded the number of bases where US troops could preposition assets, and the US announced $500 million in foreign military funding, on top of the funds it had already allocated and spent to help develop Philippine bases. The Trump administration has exempted military funding for the Philippines from its foreign aid freeze.
The expansion and deepening of Philippine-US ties was backdropped by the Marcos administration’s shift of policy on the West Philippine Sea, parts of which superpower China claims as its territory. Manila had publicized its efforts to assert its sovereing righs and sovereignty claims in its own exclusive economic zone, in the face of Chinese aggression. It was a 180-degree change from his predecessor, then-president Rodrigo Duterte, who attempted to bring Manila closer to Beijing.
The US under Trump has made statements in the past affirming its support to the Philippines in light of China’s continued aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea. – Rappler.com
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