Is Malacañang beaming following Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo’s meeting with his US counterpart, newly installed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on 14 February in Munich, Germany?

Manalo’s and Rubio’s first face-to-face meeting was held at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof where the world’s annual leading forum for debating pressing challenges to global security was held on 14-16 February.

In an exchange which Manalo effusively described as “a great first in-person meeting,” he said he and Rubio talked about the ongoing bilateral coordination on addressing China’s destabilizing actions in the South China Sea.

A statement released by the US Department of State backed Manalo, with State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce saying that Rubio “not only reaffirmed the US commitment to the United States-Philippines Alliance” but also expressed his desire to “build an even more invested and enduring relationship.”

Those words should boost Malacañang’s confidence that the US would stand by its long-time ally where the Chinese issue is concerned.

Already in January, Rubio had conveyed the US’ “ironclad” defense commitment to the Philippines. His overseas call to Manalo then came after he had hosted his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in the China-focused Quad Forum a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The four countries pledged to work together and, along with the Philippines, share their concerns about China’s growing power, particularly in the South China Sea. Analysts saw the January Quad meeting as an indication of the countries’ desire to continue efforts to counter Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region.

A statement issued by Rubio after the Quad meeting said he had called the Philippine Foreign Affairs secretary to “underscore the United States’ ironclad commitment to the Philippines” under the Mutual Defense Treaty, even as the two officials discussed ways to advance their security cooperation, expand economic ties, and deepen regional cooperation.

In February, shortly before Manalo flew to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, Philippine and US generals conducted their first bilateral talks by phone with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr. and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. discussing “military modernization” and “increasing the scope and capacity of joint exercises.”

US Joint Staff spokesperson Navy Capt. Jeral Dorsey said the two generals also touched on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites which are Philippine military facilities where the US has prepositioned assets and personnel.

According to Dorsey, General Brown emphasized “the importance of domain awareness in the Philippine exclusive economic zone.”

What’s particularly going for the country, at least, in terms of a strong ally where it concerns its woes against the belligerence of China in the West Philippine Sea — the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone — is Trump’s designation of Rubio as Secretary of State.

Rubio, a vociferous China hawk well known for his strong views against the Chinese behavior in international waters and its human rights record, is understandably disliked intensely in China. He has, in fact, been on Beijing’s sanctions list since he was a senator. Apparently, as the Secretary of State, he continues to be on that list.

Does the fact that he has antipathy for China’s big-bully aggression automatically translate to US financial resources for the Philippines’ defense and military interests?

What we would like to know is if Manalo asked the US Secretary of State if the Philippines is exempted from President Trump’s order to freeze foreign aid?

Following Trump’s order, what will now happen to the $500 million in foreign military financing committed by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken to modernize the Philippine military and the Philippine Coast Guard?

That commitment was among the new programs announced during the Biden administration to enhance US-Philippine defense and security cooperation.

A fact sheet prepared by the State Department under the Trump administration indicates that it is aware of the Philippines’ “undertaking (of) an ambitious 15-year military modernization program in three phases that is projected to cost over $40 billion and aims to address shortfalls in the Philippines’ defense capabilities.”

Will “anti-China pioneer” Secretary Rubio push, with all the might of his office, for the exemption of the Philippines from his boss, President Trump’s, sweeping freeze of foreign assistance to help the Philippines realize the program?

Did our Foreign Secretary bring up the subject in Munich? Was he able to?

Until we get to hear a categorically positive statement from the US Secretary of State on the matter, we certainly don’t think the Philippine government should sit back and start breathing easy. Especially since we don’t see that Oriental dragon bully taking a pause from spewing its foul breath on our Navy and Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.