MANILA – The Philippines can expect stronger engagement with the United States, as the latter’s new ambassador promises to take the two states’ alliance to greater heights in the coming years.
Newly arrived US Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Lipton made the assurance as he led the celebration of the US Independence Day and 80th Philippine-US anniversary at a reception in Makati City on Thursday night.
The celebration marks his first official public engagement after presenting his credentials as the new US envoy to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. this week.
“It is an honor of a lifetime to be appointed by President Trump to serve my country in Manila. I’m so excited to be here and elevate the United States’ alliance with the Philippines to new heights,” he said in his remarks.
As the two nations commemorate eight decades of ties in 2026, Lipton said the Trump administration “has some really big plans to bring American business, jobs, investments, assistance, and so much more to the Filipino people.”
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim, for his part, said Manila looks forward to working with Lipton and the embassy on strengthening security, economic, and people-to-people relations, and “to building, together, the next chapter of this alliance.”
“Anniversaries like these are not finish lines. They are checkpoints, markers we pass on the way to a partnership that still has its best chapters ahead of it,” he said.
“Eighty years in, 75 years in, 250 years in — between us, that's a whole lot of years of practice at this alliance business, and if we haven't gotten it right by now, frankly, we never will. Let us meet what comes next the way both our nations were built: together, and without hesitation,” he added.
Formal relations between the Philippines and the US were established on July 4, 1946.
In a separate meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, before her departure for Canada this week, Lipton reaffirmed the United States' commitment to its alliance with the Philippines and expressed his eagerness to work closely with the Philippine government.
“Ambassador Lipton looks forward to building on the strong partnership between our countries and the enduring ties that connect Americans and Filipinos,” said the US Embassy in Manila on Friday. (PNA)
