SUMMARY
MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino serviceman’s death in an attack by a foreign power would invoke the Philippines’ Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday, April 15.
Marcos said this in a media forum with foreign correspondents based in Manila, when asked what “conditions” would invoke the 1951 treaty, through which both the Philippines and the US promise to come to each other’s defense in the event of an external armed attack.
“I think [US Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin explained it very well. If any serviceman, Filipino serviceman, is killed by an attack from any foreign power, then that is time to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty. I, actually, when I spoke to him in Washington, I thanked him for making it very, very clea…