MANILA — The United States has lifted restrictions on a small portion of its military assistance to the Philippines that was withheld over human rights concerns, the foreign minister said Thursday.
The gesture affects about $15 million dollars that have been withheld over the last five years, a fraction of Washington's total military assistance to the South East Asian island.
Albert del Rosario told reporters that the aid restriction had been lifted "sometime last year," but did not explain why it had been lifted.
A day earlier, US Assistant Defense Secretary David Shear said that Washington had provided $300 million in military-related assistance since 2001 and would provide another $40 million in 2015 as part of America's support to modernize the poorly-equipped Philippine military, which is one of the weakest in the region.
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