Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5) – The likelihood of the United States positioning its troops and equipment in the Philippines should the war between Ukraine and Russia further spread is very low, the Department of National Defense said Thursday.
During a public briefing, DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana recalled his conversation with President Rodrigo Duterte on whether the country might get involved in the conflict.
“Ang sabi ko naman sa kanya: ‘Mr. President, malayong mangyari siguro ‘yan dahil unang-una napakalayo natin,’” Lorenzana said.
[Translation: What I told him was: Mr. President, the chances of that happening is remote because first of all, we’re very far from where the war is happening.]
The defense official further explained that should Washington need to do such positioning, there are other countries nearer to Ukraine geographically.
“’Yung Korea mas malapit ‘yan kaysa sa atin, Turkey, at saka iba pang NATO forces. So, sabi ko hindi siguro mangyayari na masangkot tayo,” stated the Cabinet official.
[Translation: South Korea is closer to Ukraine than us, and same goes for Turkey and other NATO forces. So I said we probably wouldn’t get caught up.]
The US—which has armed and assisted Ukraine amid the conflict—and the Philippines are bound by the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty. The two allies recently concluded their ‘Balikatan’ joint military exercises.
