Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines wanted more joint exercises with its former colonial ruler and to have a greater number of US troops rotating through the Southeast Asian country.
“It is to our definite advantage to be exploring how to maximise our treaty alliance with the United States in ways that would be mutually acceptable and beneficial,” del Rosario said in a statement.
Del Rosario did not specifically name China as driving the Philippines’ push for a greater US military presence, but highlighted “territorial disputes”.
The Philippines has been locked in a decades-long dispute with China over competing claims to the South China Sea, but the tensions have escalated during the past year over what Manila considers increasing Chinese bullying.
Del Rosario said the increased US military presence could include “planning more joint exercises to promote interoperability and a rotating and more frequent presence by them”.
“Such cooperative efforts would as well result in achieving a balance of influence to ensure peace, stability, and economic development in the region,” he said.
The United States had large military bases in the Philippines until 1992, but was forced to abandon them after Filipino senators votes to kick them out.
However a rotating force of about 600 US troops has been stationed in the southern Philippines for the past decade, training local soldiers in how to combat Islamic militants.