Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo has rejected the possibility of revisiting the 73-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States.
In a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) in Manila on Friday, Manalo was asked whether Manila and Washington should expound on the definition of an “armed attack” that would trigger the MDT.
In response, Manalo dismissed the idea of reviewing the treaty, emphasizing that the provisions defining an armed attack were clearly stated.
“I think we’ve been asked that question many times. The provisions of the MDT are quite clear,” he told reporters. “It’s not a simple case of someone just saying let’s invoke it.”
Manalo said the procedure involves a rigorous process and extensive talks between the two nations.
“You have to have discussions, and they have to go through some procedures. I think it is quite clear already in the MDT what conditions could generate this invoking,” he said.
“There have been past clarificatory talks between the Philippines and the United States on the MDT, so I think I would have to leave it at that,” he added.
Signed in 1951, Article IV of the MDT states that each party — the US and the Philippines — “recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”
In recent years, tensions between Manila and Beijing have escalated as China has become increasingly aggressive in obstructing the Philippines’ rotation and resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre which serves as the country’s outpost in the West Philippine Sea.
China’s actions against Philippine vessels and crew members have included assault, the use of water cannons, lasers, and dangerous maneuvers, among other hostile tactics.
This week alone, the Philippines filed a new diplomatic protest against China after it dropped flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force aircraft conducting a routine patrol over Scarborough Shoal.
Two People’s Liberation Army Air Force jet fighters carried out dangerous maneuvers and released flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force NC-212i propeller aircraft over Scarborough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, a move described by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as “unjustified, illegal, and reckless.”
The Armed Forces of the Philippines labeled the firing of flares as a first in the long list of China’s illegal actions in Philippine waters.
As of 12 August, the Philippines has filed a total of 173 diplomatic protests against China since President Marcos took office in 2022, 40 of which were filed this year.
Last June, the President’s elder sister, Senator Imee Marcos, urged the Philippine government through the Department of Foreign Affairs to take the lead in reviewing the MDT.
She proposed reviewing the defense pact following the “barbaric and inhumane” actions committed by the China Coast Guard at Ayungin Shoal, where the CCG was accused of “intentionally ramming” a Philippine vessel evacuating a sick member of the Philippine Navy from Ayungin.
Ayungin Shoal is home to the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II ship that serves as a permanent station for Philippine military personnel.
The shoal has become a point of contention between the two countries due to their overlapping claims in the area.
Located 105 nautical miles west of Palawan, the low-tide elevation is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
In July 2016, the Philippines won the arbitral case it lodged against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. China, however, continues to reject the award.