Visiting US nat'l security adviser turns over precision-guided missiles to Philippines

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Monday announced the formal transfer of a new missile package to the Philippine government to strengthen its anti-terrorism capabilities and address security concerns.

Valued at about $18 million, the new weapons for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) consist of precision-guided missiles and munitions, including 100 TOW 2A missiles, 12 ITAS, and 24 MK82s.

“This transfer underscores our strong and enduring commitment to our critical alliance,” O’Brien said at a joint press briefing with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. in Manila.

“We hope these precision-guided missiles and munitions will help the AFP protect Philippine lives in Mindanao and end the needless suffering imposed by ISIS East Asia.”

Over the years, the US military, at the forefront in the fight against ISIS, has assisted the AFP in combating extremist groups by providing technical assistance and enemy surveillance to Filipino troops battling terrorists.

Amid political uncertainties in the US due to the presidential transition standoff in Washington, O’Brien likewise assured the Philippines that America will always support and defend its treaty ally under the Mutual Defense Treaty.

The MDT binds the US to come to Manila's aid against an external attack, including in the South China Sea. 

“As we approach the 70th anniversary of our Mutual Defense Treaty next year, we celebrate the strength of our important alliance and we look forward to working hand-in-hand for generations to come. Together, the United States and the Philippines will continue to ensure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” O’Brien said.

Locsin said the new weapons are “a fulfillment of a promise” made by US President Donald Trump to President Rodrigo Duterte during their phone call in April.

“This gesture reflects our strategic alignment of interests and our shared aspirations for enduring peace and stability for both our countries and the greater region. It is demonstrative of President Trump’s staunch support for the Philippines to counter both internal and external security threats and emblematic of our two leaders’ trust in each other,” he said.

Trump, who was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in the November electino, has yet to formally concede. 

The smart bombs, Locsin added, will boost the Philippine military’s capability “in neutralizing identified or specific threats to national security, particularly in counter terrorism operations.”

“We look forward to training of the use of these weapons with the best and undisputed military power in the world and the only one in history selflessly dedicated to the freedom and independence of other countries wherever threatened in the world,” he said.

O’Brien also welcomed Duterte’s recent decision to extend the two nations’ Visiting Forces Agreement after he ordered to scrap it – a retaliation for the canceled US visa of his former police chief, anti-drug war implementer, and now senator Ronald Dela Rosa.

The VFA, O’Brien noted, is essential in facilitating “our closer cooperation in combating terrorism.”

He also reiterated that the US stands with the Philippines “in protecting your sovereign rights, your offshore resources and all of those rights that are consistent with international law.”

“I just want to say that those resources belong to the children and grandchildren of the people here. They belong to the Philippine people. They don’t belong to some other country that just because they may be bigger than the Philippines they can come take away and convert the resources of the Philippine people. That’s just wrong,” O’Brien said.

China claims a huge swathe of the South China Sea – a major shipping lane and said to be harboring rich oil and mineral reserves. Smaller claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam have figured in confrontations and standoffs with China in the past to protect its claim in waters.

Beijing has long frowned on any discussion of the disputes in multilateral arenas and has opposed any role by non-claimant countries, specifically the US, to keep out of the territorial rifts.

Ignoring China’s repeated warnings, the US maintained it is within its national interest to ensure peace and stability in the South China Sea. —KBK, GMA News