Speeches & Testimony

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Aloha and Mabuhay!

I join my friend from Guam, Mr. Moylan, and many colleagues in strong support of H.Res 837, reaffirming our country’s enduring ties with the Republic of the Philippines.

The strength of the U.S.-Philippines relationship endures on a foundation of shared heritage, history and values, from Filipinos being the first documented Asian ethnic group in North America to the still-growing population of Filipino Americans today, numbering over 4.6 million in 2023, now the third largest group of Asian descent in our country.

In my Hawai’i, I am the very proud Representative for the Congressional district with the highest number of Filipino Americans of any district in our country, some 204,000. We in Hawai’i understand from our own century-plus experience how Hawai‘i and our nation have greatly benefited from the significant contributions and accomplishments of our Filipino community.

The U.S.-Philippines relationship has perhaps never been as strong as it is today, and it is these people-to-people ties that are the foundation behind the security partnership outlined in the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. It recognizes that an attack in the Pacific on either would endanger the peace of both and that we must act in concert to meet common dangers.

This security relationship is critical today given continued aggression by the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific. This Congressional reaffirmation comes on the heels of Secretary of Defense Austin’s recent visit to Palawan where he reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the Philippines and reiterated that the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to both countries’ armed forces, public vessels and aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea.

That is just one of many reasons why the reaffirmation of our relationship with the Philippines by the United States Congress as well, as this resolution does, is more important now than ever. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting our critical U.S.-Philippines relationship. 

Maraming Salamat Po and Dios ti Agngina!