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MANILA, Philippines – US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to arrive in Manila on Friday, March 28, as he makes a swing of the Indo-Pacific — making him the first Cabinet-level official from the Trump administration to visit the Philippines.
Before Manila, Hegseth will visit the state of Hawaii, home of the Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom). Then he goes to Guam, where a fourth of the territory is owned by the US defense department. After his meetings in Manila, Hegseth is set to visit Japan, another key ally of the United States.
“Secretary Hegseth’s trip comes as the United States builds on unprecedented cooperation with like-minded countries to strengthen regional security,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in a statement. “He will advance security objectives with Philippine leaders and meet with US and Philippine forces,” he added.
Hegseth inherits a bilateral defense relationship that’s seen huge strides since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022.
His predecessor, Lloyd Austin, oversaw the near-doubling of Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement sites; the expansion and increased complexity of the yearly Balikatan bilateral military exercises; a $500-million foreign military financing pledge; and the signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement, among others.
Work and interests
It was a mix of hard work and, yes, the convergence of interests. Under Marcos, the Philippines went back to its traditional alignments and alliances, away from the pivot to China that former president Rodrigo Duterte had initiated.
How will the relationship develop under Trump 2.0? How “ironclad” will be America’s defense commitments under President Donald Trump, who’s upending the world order one agreement and vote at a time?
Early statements from US officials, including Hegseth, indicated that little would change.
Following the first phone call between Hegseth and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., the Pentagon said its chief “reaffirmed the ironclad US commitment to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and its importance for maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”
“[Hegseth and Teodoro] discussed the importance of reestablishing deterrence in the South China Sea, including by working with allies and partners. They also discussed enhancing the capability and capacity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” said Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot in a February 2025 readout.
But this was all before Trump and Vice President JD Vance tag-teamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in late February 2025. Since then, Manila has become much more cautious — or nervous, even — because there’s really no saying how Trump would treat old alliances and partnerships, including in the Indo-Pacific.
At the same time, the Philippine military has gotten an exemption from a sweeping freeze in US aid to allow $336 million for its modernization.
What will Hegseth have to say at Indopacom, at their bases in Guam, in Manila, and in Japan?
We’re sure of at least one thing in his Indo-Pacific sojourn, at least. “And as always, the Secretary looks forward to some great PT (physical training) with the troops!” said Parnell.
PT WITH TROOPS. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth participates in a morning PT session hosted by troops from the 1st Battalion 10th Special Forces Group at Panzer Kaserne, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb. 11, 2025.Flight over the South China Sea
Make no mistake, the US has always made its presence felt in the region, including in the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea.
On Monday, March 24, the same week as Hegseth’s visit and on the day the Philippine and US military kicked off their annual bilateral military exercises, four Philippine media groups joined a Boeing P-8 Poseidon aerial mission over waters close to Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal.
Three Philippine vessels — two from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and one from the Philippine Coast Guard — had been deployed to the shoal to bring aid to Filipino fisherfolk in the area.
From the airplane windows of the Poseidon, it was hard to make out which vessel what which, and just how many were out at sea, close to the shoal. But on the screens where Naval officers were monitoring the sea surface in real time, the picture was much clearer: at least four China Coast Guard ships surrounded the three Philippine vessels. Several more unindentified vessels, including one the crew aboard the Poseidon had previously identified as a Chinese Navy vessel, were also in the area.
“This is kinda how it is, usually. Every time we come out, this is usually what we see,” said Lieutenant Ken Carandang, a Filipino-American Naval Flight Officer and Tactical Coordinator.
Patrol Squadron 47, which operates the Poseidon, are typically based off Japan and regularly conduct aerial missions not just in the West Philippine Sea, but other maritime areas in the region.
The ship is also equipped with sonobuoys that can detect and analyze the source of sound in the ocean — including that from submarines. Its cameras can monitor, in real time, whatever’s happening on the ocean surface as well.
POSEIDON. A US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon flies over the West Philippine Sea on Monday, March 24, 2025. Commander Zachary Sipes told reporters aboard the Poseidon that the aerial mission “[helps] demonstrate our commitment to the US-Philippine alliance and our commitment to the Indo-Pacific.” It’s also part of their tried-and-tested talk points — the value of the international rules-based order and freedom of navigation in the region.
“The importance of freedom of navigation is exactly in the words. You don’t want to stop free and open economic sealanes so people have the ability to trade between nations. If you didn’t have that, you’d have countries that have a stranglehold on areas of the ocean, like back in the pirate days. Maintaining free and open sealanes and freedom of navigation allows free trade between nations, so that’s there’s no disruption there,” explained Commander Zachary Sipes, Executive Officer of Patrol Squadron 47
It was, perhaps, also a flex of the United States’ military might. Even before we were close to Scarborough Shoal, we could hear, through the radio, the Chinese Air Force trying to warn Philippine aircraft (from the BFAR) to stay away.
There was at least one radio challenge from China’s Air Force to the Poseidon, although the crew said Chinese aircraft sometimes issue general warnings to aircraft in the vicinity.
There’s another “challenge” — if you could call it that — issued to the Philippine military last week, and from the mouth of no less than the Vice President. Before a Senate panel probing the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte bemoaned the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “silence” over the incident.
Teodoro’s answer was curt and straight to the point: “Our sole mandate is to give support to the Philippine National Police when it is asked for. And therefore, such ends our jurisdiction.” – Rappler.com
