Duterte wants US$16 billion for VFA with American military. Fair price for a US ally in the South China Sea, or ‘extortion’?

The Philippine president has demanded Washington quadruple its aid to Manila in return for renewing the Visiting Forces Agreement

Critics say ‘extortion’ is unlikely to impress the Biden administration; but some think it could be value for money given the country’s strategic location

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US Marines on exercise in the Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 21 Feb 2021Updated: 5:35pm, 21 Feb 2021

A demand by the Philippine government that the United States quadruple its aid to Manila in exchange for allowing US troops to operate in the country may have shocked Washington, but some experts think the country’s strategic position in the South China Sea justifies the price tag.

Following recent bilateral talks aimed at sealing a new Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two countries, President Rodrigo Duterte put the US on notice that if it wanted a deal it would “have to pay”.

“It’s a shared responsibility but your share of responsibility does not come free,” he said on February 12, the day after the talks ended, in remarks aimed at Washington but delivered in a rambling speech to Philippine soldiers.

Duterte justified the demand by saying the Philippines was the regional nation “nearest to a theatre of war”, adding that the “most convenient outpost [for US forces] would really be the Philippines”. His remarks appeared to be a reference to the territorial disputes China has with various Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: EPA

Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque fleshed out the demands three days later, saying US aid to Manila should be closer to the US$16.4 billion the US gave Pakistan from 2002 to 2017, rather than the US$3.9 billion “pennies” Manila received during the same period.

Roque said he had pulled those figures from a 2018 report by the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, on US counterterrorism financing.

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