07 October 2016•Update: 07 October 2016
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Plans for joint patrol and naval exercises between the Philippines and the United States in the disputed South China Sea have been put on hold, a top defense official said Friday.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters in Manila that he has already informed the U.S. military that President Rodrigo Duterte wants to halt the 28 Philippine military exercises with U.S. forces carried out each year.
Duterte has said he wants an ongoing exercise to be the last between the two countries of his six-year presidency, as he is trying to develop international relationships that are not too dependent on one country
On Friday, GME News reported Lorenzana as saying that ties between the two countries were going through “bumps on the road” and the Philippine military could manage if the U.S. were to withdraw aid.
He added that the Philippines intended to buy arms from China and Russia, and there had been no adverse reaction from within the military to Duterte’s vows to scale back defense ties.
On Wednesday, Lorenzana had said that Duterte may have been misinformed when he declared that U.S.-Philippine military exercises were no benefit to his country, but in Friday's comments he said the aid was “not that much”
Congress could make up a shortfall of some $50 million-$100 million a year in US military aid, he said.
“We can live without [that],” Lorenzana told a foreign correspondents’ forum.
In the past week, Duterte has declared that joint U.S.-Philippines military exercises would cease, a defense agreement would be reviewed and, at an undisclosed time, he might "break up" with the US.
On Monday, he said that U.S. President Barack Obama should “go to hell” following widespread criticism of Duterte's crackdown on the illegal drug trade which has seen thousands of suspected drug dealers and users killed.
Lorenzana added Friday that Duterte was sensitive to concerns about his drug war and it was likely he would tone down his rhetoric if questions from the West about human rights issues stopped.
“They are not lacking of any place to park their ships if they are no longer allowed to park their ships here,” Lorenzana said of the U.S.
