Join Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines, Gilberto Teodoro, and Hoover Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster, as they discuss the history of US-Philippine relations, defense cooperation, and security in Southeast Asia. In light of the new US administration, Teodoro reflects on America’s long alliance with the Philippines and his expectations for the relationship over the coming years, how the Philippine government has evolved over the last several administrations in countering Chinese coercion, and the connection between Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the impact of the war in the Middle East on the security of the Philippines. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Gilberto Teodoro is Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines. Teodoro has served as Secretary since 2023, after holding the position from 2007 to 2009. Teodoro was previously Congressman of the First District of Tarlac for three consecutive terms, starting in 1998. While in Congress, he authored 106 bills, served as Assistant Majority Leader, and was head of the Nationalist People’s Coalition House members. Teodoro holds a bachelor’s degree from De La Salle University, studied law at the University of the Philippines, and earned his Master of Laws at Harvard.

H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.