Days of the Philippines’ dependence on the US are numbered

Crucially, the Philippines is also proactively reaching out to a wide range of partners across the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

The Marcos Jnr administration seems determined to transform the Southeast Asian nation into a more self-reliant and capable middle power in the 21st century.

Indeed, Philippine-US defence relations have switched into a “hyperdrive” mode under the Marcos Jnr administration. According to Philippine ambassador to the US, Jose “Babe” Romualdez, who also happens to be the president’s cousin, Washington could provide up to US$3 billion in defence aid over the next five years, thanks to robust bipartisan support for stronger bilateral relations.

“This is a very serious situation we are facing,” Romualdez recently said, referring to multiple incidents between Chinese and Philippine maritime forces in the South China Sea in the past year.

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Ultimately, the Marcos Jnr administration is bent on building a wide and diversified network of strategic partnerships, from Asia to Europe, to reduce the Philippines’ historical dependence on the US. India and South Korea have also emerged as defence suppliers to the Philippines.

Taking a page from his late father’s playbook, Marcos Jnr is pursuing his own version of “multi-alignment” by cultivating optimal ties with all major powers and like-minded nations. Full alignment with any superpower is anathema to the country’s pursuit of an independent foreign policy.

Richard Heydarian is a Manila-based academic and author of “Asia’s New Battlefield: US, China and the Struggle for Western Pacific”, and the forthcoming “Duterte’s Rise”