FORT BONIFACIO, Philippines — The Philippine Army and the United States Army Pacific reaffirmed their longstanding military alliance during a high-level visit in Manila this week, underscoring deepening security cooperation between the two treaty allies as the Philippines accelerates its transition toward external defense operations.
Lt. Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete, commanding general of the Philippine Army, met with Gen. Ronald P. Clark, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), at Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, on Feb. 12. The meeting comes weeks before the two forces are scheduled to conduct Exercise Salaknib and the larger annual Balikatan drills in April.
Military officials from both countries described the visit as part of a continuing effort to strengthen interoperability and strategic coordination amid evolving regional security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific.
“The Philippine Army is firmly committed to deepening our partnership with the U.S. Army,” Lt. Gen. Nafarrete said in a statement issued after the meeting. “Together with like-minded nations, we are dedicated to maintaining regional stability and promoting peace across the broader Indo-Pacific region.”
Alliance modernization
The engagement reflects Manila’s broader defense modernization and strategic realignment, as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) shift from a decades-long focus on internal security operations to territorial defense and external security missions.
For much of the past half-century, the Philippine military concentrated on counterinsurgency campaigns against communist and Islamist armed groups. In recent years, however, Manila has redirected doctrine, training and procurement toward maritime and territorial defense amid rising geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea.
The Philippine Army’s deepening partnership with USARPAC is a central component of that transition, providing access to advanced training, doctrine development and operational planning frameworks aligned with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command strategy.
Defense analysts note that ground-force cooperation has expanded significantly in recent years, complementing longstanding naval and air force engagement between the two allies.
“The Army-to-Army relationship has become increasingly important as the Philippines reorients toward external defense,” said a Manila-based security researcher specializing in alliance cooperation. “Land forces play a critical role in archipelagic defense, coastal security and joint operations.”
Exercise Salaknib and Balikatan
Gen. Clark’s visit also served as preparatory engagement ahead of Exercise Salaknib, the bilateral Philippine-U.S. Army training series, and Exercise Balikatan, the Philippines’ largest annual joint military exercise with U.S. forces.
Salaknib focuses primarily on land warfare readiness, command-post integration and combined maneuver operations, while Balikatan — meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder” in Filipino — integrates air, maritime and land components across the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
The April 2026 iteration of Balikatan is expected to include expanded territorial defense scenarios and joint operations across multiple Philippine training areas, reflecting the evolving strategic environment in the region.
Officials said the February meeting in Manila builds on a series of high-level engagements between the two ground-force leaders over the past year, including a December 2025 meeting in Japan and the 14th Philippine-U.S. Army Steering Committee Meeting held at Philippine Army headquarters in November 2025.
Such recurring consultations are intended to sustain operational alignment and long-term planning between the two forces.
Indo-Pacific security context
The reaffirmation of Army-level cooperation occurs against a backdrop of intensifying strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, where the United States has sought to reinforce alliances and partnerships to maintain regional stability and deter coercion.
The Philippines, a treaty ally of the United States under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, has expanded defense engagement with Washington in recent years, including increased joint exercises, rotational deployments and access agreements under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
While the Feb. 12 meeting focused on land-force cooperation, analysts view it as part of a broader strengthening of bilateral defense ties across all service branches.
“Army engagement often receives less public attention than naval or air cooperation, but it is essential for joint readiness,” the security researcher said. “It reinforces alliance credibility at the operational level.”
Transition to external defense
Philippine defense leaders have repeatedly emphasized that the Army’s evolving mission now includes coastal defense, territorial security and support to joint operations beyond traditional internal security roles.
Lt. Gen. Nafarrete’s remarks during the meeting reflected that institutional shift, highlighting the Army’s role in maintaining regional stability alongside allied forces.
The Philippine Army has been expanding training in coastal defense, air-defense integration and joint maneuver operations, areas where U.S. Army Pacific provides technical expertise and interoperability frameworks.
U.S. Army Pacific, headquartered in Hawaii, oversees U.S. Army operations across the Indo-Pacific theater and maintains partnerships with numerous regional land forces. Its cooperation with the Philippine Army is among the longest-standing in Southeast Asia.
Continuing defense engagement
Officials from both armies described the Feb. 12 visit as reaffirming shared commitments rather than announcing new initiatives, emphasizing continuity in alliance cooperation and preparation for upcoming joint activities.
Photographs released by the Philippine Army showed Lt. Gen. Nafarrete and Gen. Clark meeting with senior officers at headquarters in Fort Bonifacio.
Military public affairs officials said the engagement demonstrates the two forces’ “strong bilateral alliance” and continued coordination in support of regional peace and stability.
The Philippine Army has identified international defense partnerships — particularly with the United States — as essential to its modernization goals and doctrinal transformation.
As Manila continues to shift toward external defense priorities, officials expect Army-level cooperation with U.S. forces to expand further through exercises, exchanges and operational planning.
For both militaries, the Feb. 12 meeting served as a visible reaffirmation of a decades-old alliance adapting to new strategic realities in the Indo-Pacific region.
Source: Philippine Army Public Affairs Office Release date: Feb. 14, 2026 Contact: Office of the Army Chief Public Affairs