Zion Mhar Kaezer Corpuz 

The Philippines topped the list of the largest recipients of foreign assistance from the United States (US) among Southeast Asian (SEA) countries based on IBON Foundation’s summated data posted on April 27.


The summated data was derived from the preliminary reported disbursements by ForeignAssistance.gov, the flagship website for publicising foreign assistance by the US.

It revealed that the country was granted over 741.2 million USD for socioeconomic, military and security aids.

With over 542.4 million USD, the country is the largest recipient of military and security aid in the SEA Region.

The military and security aid involved foreign military financing, international military education and training, international narcotics control and law enforcement, and non-proliferation, anti-terrorism, and demining-related aid.  

The country received 198.8 million USD in terms of US socioeconomic aid—the second largest in Southeast Asia, next to Myanmar with 227 million US dollars. 

The socioeconomic aid includes global health programs, development assistance, and economic support funds.

The country listed an approximately tripled increase in received aid in comparison with the 2023 data—48.8 million US dollars of military and security aid; 201 million US dollars in socioeconomic support.

However, according to IBON Foundation in a previous post, the increase of aid does not really help the Filipino people but rather ensures the Philippines’ role in upholding US superpower military and economic dominance in the region. 

The US has been giving foreign assistance to the Philippines since the late 1940’s.