Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Friday that the Philippines can get by without U.S. military aid.
"I think we can live without those (U.S. military) aid. Our Congress is actually giving us money now for the procurement of our equipment," Lorenzana told a foreign correspondents' forum.
The Philippines is set to lose the U.S. aid should the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte scrap the Philippine-U.S. joint military exercises.
Lorenzana said his country gets an average 50 million U.S. dollars to 100 million U.S. dollars every year, including some 30 million U.S. dollars for joint war games.
He stressed that the U.S. military aid to the Philippines is not that much, saying the Philippine congress can make up for the loses.
The defense secretary also noted that he agreed with President Duterte on the fact that the United States has failed the Philippines.
Lorenzana said it's time to "reassess" the U.S.-Philippine relations, saying the two countries are "just going through bumps on the road."
"We should not, according to the president, be dependent on one country alone. We should spread our side to others because there are still so many countries there," Lorenzana said.
In fact, he said the ambassadors of India and Russia have offered some sophisticated equipment that Washington has not offered. "I see this as a healthy development between our relationship," he said.
Lorenzana said he favored the review of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) which Manila and Washington signed in 2014.
U.S. and Philippine defense and military officials are to meet later this month to thresh out the issues concerning military-to-military relations between the two nations. Lorenzana said the EDCA might be discussed at the meeting.
In recent weeks, Duterte said he wanted the more than 100 U.S. military specialists to leave southern Philippines where they are helping the Philippine military in the fight against terrorism. He also said the ongoing joint war games between the U.S. and Philippine marines and navies would be the last one during his six-year term.
Lorenzana said the Philippines has already notified the U.S. military of its decision to suspend the joint military exercise codenamed PASSEX with the U.S. navy.
However, the defense secretary said he has yet to clarify with Duterte the plan to cancel all joint war games altogether.
Lorenzana reiterated that the Philippines will not abrogate its treaty with the U.S., saying that Duterte only wants to chart an foreign policy that is not dependent to one country.
