US military, binigyan ng “full honors” si PBBM sa The Pentagon

GUMAWA ng isang kasaysayan si Pangulong  Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.  bilang kauna-unahang foreign head of state na binigyan ng “full honors” sa The Pentagon sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni US President Joseph Biden.

Winelcome ni US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin si Pangulong Marcos ng “full honors” sa The Pentagon.

Sinabi ng US Dept of Defense Protocol office  na ang full honors na ibinigay sa Pangulo ay unang ipinagkaloob sa  foreign head of state o gobyerno sa ilalim ng administrasyong Biden.

Sa kanilang pagpupulong, nagpahayag si Austin ng commitment ng kanyang bansa para sa tanggulan ng Pilipinas,  “President (Joseph) Biden has made clear our commitment to the defense of the Philippines is ironclad. And let me tell you once again that our Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks on our armed forces, coast guard vessels, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific including anywhere in the South China Sea,” ang sinabi ni Lloyd kay Pangulong Marcos.

“So, make no mistake Mr. President, we will always have your back in the South China Sea or elsewhere in the region,” ang wika nito.

Sinabi naman ni Pangulong Marcos na ang “call of the times… is asking for us to meet the new challenges perhaps we have not faced before.”

“That’s why it is very important that it is continuing… the exchanges that we have started,” ayon sa Pangulo sabay sabing “I look to a very bright future between the Philippines and the United States – a future that is founded on the long experience and as you say, friendship and familial relationship because the people-to-people exchanges between our two countries have been ongoing at every level.”

Samantala, ang pagbisita ng Pangulo sa The  Pentagon ay kasunod ng muling pagpapatibay ng Pilipinas at Estados Unidos sa kanilang security alliance sa gitna ng tensyon sa  Asia-Pacific region.

Matatandaang unang nagpulong sina Pangulong Marcos at  American defense chief sa Palasyo ng Malakanyang, buwan ng Pebrero.

Sa isinagawang courtesy call ni Austin, nangako ito na tutulungan ang Pilipinas na gawing modernisado ang  defense capabilities at itaas ang interoperability ng American at Filipino military forces.

Sa kanilang naging pagpupulong naman sa The  Pentagon, inilarawan ni Austin ang Pilipinas bilang Isang  “indispensable friend” at kaalyado ng Estados Unidos

“Our alliance is rooted in our common democratic values,” ayon kay Austin.

Binigyang diin ni Austin ang “degree of participation” ng pinagsamang military forces ng allied nations  sa ilalim ng  Balikatan Exercises.

“The recently concluded — the largest and most complex iteration of ever of Exercise Balikatan and it included more than 17,000 troops in the Philippines, the United States, and Australia, training side-by-side across air, land, sea, and for the first time, cyberspace,” ani  Austin.

“And I said before Mr. President, we’re more than allies, we’re family and we share a common vision for free and open Indo-Pacific because a region governed by rules and rights help provide security and prosperity for our two countries and for the whole region,”  dagdag na wika ni Austin. (Daris Jose)