16 Feb 2021 The U.S. military aid provided to the Philippines amounts to “loose change” compared to other Asian nations, a spokesman for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday. “If we have very strong ties with a very strong ally, then I think it also comes with a higher amount of financial assistance to be given,” Philippine presidential spokesman Harry Roque told reporters on February 15. “We got $3.9 billion. Is that a huge amount? That’s loose change compared to what other countries were getting,” he said at a regularly scheduled press briefing. Roque referred to the findings of a study by the Washington D.C.-based Stimson Center, which showed that the U.S. donated $3.9 billion in counterterrorism support to the Philippines between 2002-2017. The U.S. donated $16.4 billion to Pakistan for the same purpose over the same time period.