Victims of Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon (habagat) receive  cash support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the Marikina Sports Center on August 22, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA (UPDATED) — Malacanang on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the Trump Administration to exempt the Philippines from its freeze on foreign aid.

This after the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that Washington has notified Manila that it issued a waiver to a portion of foreign military support for the Philippines.

"Of course natutuwa po tayo nagkaroon nga po ng direktiba si US President Trump na 90 days magkakaroon ng… ipi-freeze ang foreign aid. So, kung nagkaroon po tayo ng exemption at nagkaroon po tayo at ibibigay po at iri-release ang 500 million dollars foreign financing sa atin, ito po ay napakalaking bagay at nagpapasalamat po tayo sa suporta na iyan," Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a Malacanang briefing.

"Tandaan po natin, ito po ay mula sa pamahalaan po ni dating Pangulo, ni US President [Joe] Biden at ito pa rin po ay pinagtibay din po sa panahon po ni President Donald Trump. So, masarap po na makatanggap ng ganitong good news at ang suporta po ng US sa atin ay hindi po mapapasubali," she continued.

The US government in 2024 announced that it will provide USD500 million of foreign military financing to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard.

The Philippines however remains committed to modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) even without foreign aid.

"Of course, hindi natin 'to ibabale-wale – napakaimportante po ng AFP modernization. But of course, with the additional help, mas malaki pong bagay ang maitutulong nito," she said.

The AFP also welcomed the development, noting that it signals "our longstanding relationship with the US," according to AFP Public Affairs Office chief Colonel Xerxes Trinidad.

Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said that with this development, defense and military programs that have been initially planned out will push through.

"This has been planned in advance, so there are already particular programs that higher headquarters has mapped out for this year and even in the years to come," RADM Trinidad told reporters.

"With this particular unfreezing of the support, it only means that our programs that have been initially planned out will push through. This will include activities for sea, air and land, and even our support systems—cyber and other areas," he added.

HEALTH, EDUCATION AID

The Philippine government is also seeking to exempt health and education assistance from the global aid freeze implemented by the Trump administration last month.

Several non-governmental organizations in the Philippines, especially those with health advocacies, have announced that they are partly hit by the aid pause but said they are finding ways to mitigate the impact of the shift in US policy.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez told ANC on Tuesday that they are working to secure waivers on health and education assistance programs after a portion of Washington's military assistance to Manila was exempted from the Trump administration's foreign aid cut.

"Like any new administration, there's always a lot of what we call obstacles before we get to a point where we can clearly show that these types of aid coming from the US are really important for our relationship. Education obviously is one of them," Romualdez said.

"There are also a lot of programs of health. USAID has been very helpful in trying to mitigate HIV which is an increasing problem that we have in the Philippines right now," he said.

Most USAID workers to be fired or placed on leave

Reuters earlier reported that the US had issued a waiver for "life-saving" assistance in US President Donald Trump's freeze on US foreign aid. The waiver excluded services like abortion, gender, diversity, transgender and non-life saving work.

UNAIDS, the United Nations agency leading the fight against HIV, has said that the waiver included HIV treatment, adding it would lobby for other HIV services to be included too, including prevention.

'UN NEEDS TO ADAPT'

The UN humanitarian chief said Thursday that United Nations aid agencies need to adapt and become more efficient in the face of a funding freeze by the US, the system's largest donor.

UN aid agencies have been left reeling by the shock decision by Trump to freeze nearly all foreign aid funding.

The US had been the largest contributor to the UN and the largest aid provider in the world.

US foreign aid freeze threatens efforts to curb HIV epidemic in PH

"The postwar international system faces the greatest test since its creation. The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis", Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN's main humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement Thursday.

The statement came after the UN's main agencies held an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Geneva on how to deal with the funding crisis.

Saying the cuts will have a "devastating" impact on the agencies' work, Fletcher said the system had to adapt.

"We need to be lighter, faster, and less bureaucratic," he said.

The agencies needed to find new funding partners, including in the private sector, he said.

"This is not a drill. We are underfunded, overstretched and under attack. But we have not lost the argument. Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong," he said. 

-- With a report from Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News

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