Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana believes Philippine military can manage without the aid from the United States.
Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Armed Forces of the Philippines could manage if the United States of America will withdraw aid to the government forces.
This is the statement of the defense chief amid the situation where the US-Philippines ties are going through “bumps on the road”.
According to Lorenzana, the Philippines intended to buy arms from China and Russia, as what President Rodrigo Duterte has announced earlier.
With the series of pronouncements from Duterte that he want the US troops out of the country, Lorenzana said there had been no adverse reaction from within the military to the President’s vows to scale back defense ties with the ally country.
He added he will be flying to Russia in the coming days to see his counterparts regarding the plan to buy arms and other military equipment from them.
On Wednesday, Lorenzana released a statement saying Duterte may have been misinformed when he said US-Philippine military exercises were no benefit to his country. The joint military exercises will not simply stop because of the binding agreement between the Philippines and the US.
On Friday, Lorenzana insisted the value of US military aid to the Philippines was not that much, and the military could ask Congress to make up for a shortfall of some $50 million-$100 million a year in US military aid.
“We can live without (that),” Lorenzana said in a foreign correspondents’ forum.
In Butuan City on Thursday, Duterte dared the United States and European Union can withdraw their aid if they wish to and the Philippines would not beg for it. This is amid the remarks of the said countries on human rights pertaining to the drug war of the Duterte administration.
“I do not expect human rights, I do not expect Obama, I do not expect the EU to understand me. Do not understand me. And if you think it’s high time for you to withdraw assistance, go ahead. We will not beg for it,” Duterte said.
“Ano’ng paningin n’yo sa amin? How do you look at us? Mendicants? Na magsige lang sunod-sunod kami?” he added. “We will survive. We will survive as a nation.”