Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said ambiguities in the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) will only create confusion or chaos during critical times rather than serve as deterrence, underscoring the need for a review of the treaty.
Although the United States repeatedly gave its assurance to the Philippine government that any armed attack against the Philippines, including on the disputed South China Sea, would trigger its defense pact, the government should still push for a review of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), a political expert said Thursday.
The clash between two of the President’s men heated up on Tuesday, March 5, as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana rejected arguments of Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr about the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).The clash between two of the President’s men heated up on Tuesday, March 5, as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana rejected arguments of Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr about the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement on the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States is essentially the same as all those made by visiting US presidents, secretaries of state (foreign ministers), and secretaries of defense before him: a renewal of commitment to the MDT on which is based the alliance between the two countries.
DURING his recent visit to the Philippines, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad met Murad Ebrahim, the Filipino Muslim rebel leader who became a regional governor under the Malaysian-brokered peace deal. In the course of the meeting, Mahathir told Murad that “it’s easy to shoot and kill, but it’s difficult to develop. If there is peace, then everything will come.”
In December 2018, Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana declared that he wanted a review of the 1951 Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
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