The Philippines and the United States begin the 19-day Balikatan military exercises, described as the largest to date in terms of participating countries, involving more than 17,000 troops from seven nations and additional observers. 2026-04-20
Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announces the government's decision to suspend the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States for at least another six months. 2020-11-11
The Balangiga bells, stolen during the massacre in Balangiga in 1901 during the Philippine–American War, were returned to the Philippines after 117 years under the possession of the United States. 2018-12-11
During the annual State of the Nation Address through the Congress of the Philippines, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has outright demanded that the United States return the controversial Balangiga bells, taken during one of the campaigns of the Philippine–American War as spoils of war. Previous attempts to recover the bells have all failed so far. 2017-07-24
United States State Department blocks the sale of firearms to the Philippines due to concerns of human rights violations. 2016-11-2
The San Francisco Police Department halts a training program between itself and the Philippine National Police over allegations of civil rights violations committed under the guise of the Philippine Drug War. 2016-10-27
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay states that the United States remains our "closest friend," but that the Philippines wants to break away and forge closer ties with other nations. 2016-10-22
The Philippines Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana suspends participation in any joint patrols with the United States in the disputed South China Sea. Lorenzana will ask a detachment of 107 U.S. troops providing counterterrorism assistance on the southern island of Mindanao to leave as President Rodrigo Duterte requested. 2016-10-7
In response to criticism of his government's extrajudicial killings of 1,800 people since July, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte says that U.S. forces advising the Armed Forces of the Philippines against an Islamic insurgency in Mindanao are doing more harm than good and must leave the country, saying, ”I do not want a rift with America, but they have to go," during a speech in Manila. 2016-09-12
U.S. President Barack Obama cancels a scheduled meeting with the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte referred to Obama as a "son of a whore", while adding "I am no American puppet", in response to Obama's recent criticism of his war on drugs. 2016-09-5