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US to make available $100M to PH after cancellation of Russia chopper deal

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Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson spoke to reporters about the foreign military financing that the US will make available to the Philippines. Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/10/17/us-ambassador-marykay-carlson.jpg"/><figcaption>US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson spoke to reporters about the foreign military financing that the US will make available to the Philippines. <em>Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The US State Department has notified US Congress its intent to make available to the Philippines $100 million in foreign military financing (FMF) after the Philippines cancelled a deal with Russia to acquire choppers.</p><p>Speaking to reporters, US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson said these funds can be used by the Philippine defense department to fund its modernization or offset the helicopter purchase that did not push through.</p><p>Carlson thanked the Philippines for cancelling the deal with Russia that came at the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.</p><p>&quot;The decision was made on the part of the Philippine government and we are very grateful for that. As Secretary Austin announced in Hawaii and as I reiterated last Friday, the US State Department has now notified Congress its intent to make available to the Philippines… 100 million dollars in foreign military financing, FMF as it is called, to be used for defense modernization, according to the needs of the Philippine national defense, in conjunction with the ongoing consultations that we have,” she said.</p><p>“So there was a cancellation of the helicopters which we are grateful for and we have notified Congress of our intent to make available to the Philippines 100 million dollars in foreign military financing which could be used by the Department of National Defense to offset the helicopter purchase, for example. That would be one example but we would not dictate the modernization efforts within the Department of National Defense.”</p><p>Meanwhile, Carlson looks forward to closer cooperation with the Philippines in various areas including defense, trade, and people-to-people ties, saying more high level visits by US officials are forthcoming.</p><p>The recent Kamandag military exercises, she said, demonstrates the commitment of both sides to work closely and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.</p><p>“The level, and intensity and complexity of our military exercises is a very important demonstration of how we are continuing to amplify and deepen the relationship and to meet the challenges, to ensure that we have a secure environment for our people, for both nations, and for the Indo-Pacific, as we wanna make sure that we ensure a free, open, prosperous and secure world,” she said.</p><p>Asked if organizing joint patrols in the South China Sea is also on the table, Carlson said both sides are looking at joint cooperative maritime activities that may not necessarily involve joint patrols, but is leaving specifics to the two militaries.</p><p>“What we all want are safe waters, safe waters for fisherfolks, safe waters for sea lanes of transportation through which 2/3 of the region’s commerce flows. We wanna make sure also that… the international skies, of overflight is secure. So that economic recovery is not constrained and so that our people can live in safety and security.&quot;</p><p>“So in terms of joint patrols, whatever we can do, military to military, or people to people, that ensures that we secure our territorial integrity and if we make our waters safe, is what we’re going to do. So we’re looking at various types of joint cooperative maritime activities that we can do together. It doesn’t have to be joint patrol per se, but whatever makes sense, I will leave the specifics of that, of course, to our two great militaries. They enjoy very close collaboration, they work continually throughout the year, day in day out to ensure that these military exercises that I talked about, that they can provide the security that their citizens expect and demand,” she said.</p><div><strong>PRESS FREEDOM CONCERNS</strong></div><p>Carlson meanwhile expressed concern over the Philippines’ decline in press freedom rankings and condoled with the family of slain journalist Percy Lapid.</p><p>She reiterated US support for freedom of expression and press freedom and and said the US will continue to we call attention to these concerns.</p><p>“The US has noted with concern that the Philippines fell in the rankings of international press freedom from last year to this year and it’s something that we work on regularly, both within our own society, with other partners, and certainly here in the Philippines. It was shocking and we extend deepest condolences to Percy Lapid(‘s) family and to anyone who’s subject of violence in that regard but especially when it’s a journalist whose job it is to often reveal truth that are… inconvenient…. We support freedom of expression, we support press freedom and we work through our press office, through our political section, through our human rights office of the State Department in the United States to make sure that we call attention to these concerns,” she said.</p><p>RELATED VIDEO</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2170358" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The United States State Department has notified the US Congress its intent to make available to the Philippines US$100 million in foreign military financing (FMF) after the Philippines cancelled a deal with Russia to acquire choppers.

US to make available $100M to PH after cancellation of Russia chopper deal

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US to make available $100M to PH after cancellation of Russia chopper deal

Willard Cheng,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 17, 2022 05:40 PM PHT

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Updated October 17, 2022 06:01 PM PHT

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