Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Junior is back in Manila, following a five-day visit to Japan that focused on the military and included some economic issues.
The trip came shortly after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in the Philippines, where the Marcos government granted U.S. forces access to four additional military facilities.
Austin called that agreement “a big deal.”
Now, there's word the Philippines is reviewing a potential three-way security arrangement with the U.S. and Japan.
While several media outlets in Japan and the Philippines reported those discussions, the details of any policy shift are not clear — nor is a timeline.
Meanwhile, bilateral ties are growing.
Japanese troops will join training exercises in the Philippines related to disaster relief.
The Philippines will receive air surveillance radar systems from Japan — along with training.
And there are economic ties. No country provides more bilateral development aid to the Philippines than Japan.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Marcos returned to the Philippines with more than $13 billion in economic “contributions and pledges,” as well as another $3 billion in loans for infrastructure projects.
