National Security Study Directive: US Policy Towards the Philippines (Executive Summary)

Politically, the US wants a strong, stable, democratically-oriented, pro-US Philippines. However, without a healthy economy the Philippines cannot achieve political stability. Thus, specific US economic goals remain: to strengthen the Philippine economy through multilateral and bilateral assistance programs; to move the Philippine economy toward a free market orientation, to maintain and expand current levels of trade and investment; to contribute to lifting the Philippine economy from its currently projected negative growth rates. The security and defense goals are to maintain US military presence, and to fulfill treaty obligations and commitments made operational through the US naval and air bases at the Subic and Clark.