II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4703 

To enhance the partnership between the United States and the Philippines, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To enhance the partnership between the United States and 

the Philippines, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘United States-Philippines Partnership Act of 2024’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—ECONOMIC MEASURES 

Sec. 101. Definitions. 

Sec. 102. Negotiation of critical minerals agreement with the Philippines. 


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Sec. 103. Prioritization of support by United States International Development 

Finance Corporation for projects in the Philippines in critical 

minerals and fossil fuels. 

Sec. 104. Interagency plan for infrastructure development in the Philippines to 

support military and disaster recovery operations. 

TITLE II—DIPLOMATIC MEASURES 

Sec. 201. Statement of policy regarding China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, 

and deceptive tactics in the South China Sea. 

Sec. 202. Multilateral agreement between the United States, the Philippines, 

the Republic of Korea, and Japan. 

TITLE III—MILITARY MEASURES 

Sec. 301. United States-Philippines Security Consultative Committee. 

Sec. 302. Report on domain awareness gaps of the Philippines. 

Sec. 303. Assessment of and report on improvements in Second Thomas Shoal 

region of the Philippines. 

1 TITLE I—ECONOMIC MEASURES 

2 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 

3 In this title: 

4 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT5 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com6 mittees’’ means— 

7 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

8 the Committee on Finance, and the Committee 

9 on Energy and Natural Resources of the Sen10 ate; and 

11 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

12 Committee on Ways and Means, and the Com13 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (2) CRITICAL MINERAL.—The term ‘‘critical 

16 mineral’’ has the meaning given that term in section 


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1 7002(a) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 

2 1606(a)). 

3 (3) FOREIGN ENTITY OF CONCERN.—The term 

4 ‘‘foreign entity of concern’’ means an entity orga5 nized under the laws of or otherwise subject to the 

6 jurisdiction of— 

7 (A) the People’s Republic of China; 

8 (B) the Russian Federation; 

9 (C) the Islamic Republic of Iran; or 

10 (D) the Democratic People’s Republic of 

11 Korea. 

12 SEC. 102. NEGOTIATION OF CRITICAL MINERALS AGREE13 MENT WITH THE PHILIPPINES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

16 shall seek to enter into negotiations with the Philippines 

17 for an executive agreement relating to critical minerals 

18 that— 

19 (1) requires that duties not be imposed on the 

20 export of on critical minerals; 

21 (2) provides for domestic measures to address 

22 nonmarket policies and practices of other countries 

23 affecting trade in critical minerals; 


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1 (3) implements best practices for reviewing in2 vestments within the critical mineral sector of the 

3 Philippines by foreign entities of concern; 

4 (4) promotes more efficient methods of extrac5 tion of critical minerals that reduces the demand for 

6 the extractions of virgin materials; 

7 (5) establishes engagement, information-shar8 ing, and enforcement processes to address concerns 

9 relating to the use of forced labor in the critical min10 eral industry; and 

11 (6) promotes the neutrality of employers in the 

12 organization and operations of labor organizations. 

13 (b) BRIEFINGS REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 

15 days thereafter until an agreement described in subsection 

16 (a) enters into force, the Secretary of State, the United 

17 States Trade Representative, and the heads of other rel18 evant Federal agencies, shall brief the appropriate con19 gressional committees on progress in negotiating such an 

20 agreement. 


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1 SEC. 103. PRIORITIZATION OF SUPPORT BY UNITED STATES 

2 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE 

3 CORPORATION FOR PROJECTS IN THE PHIL4 IPPINES IN CRITICAL MINERALS AND FOSSIL 

5 FUELS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—In providing support under title 

7 II of the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to De8 velopment Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 9621 et seq.), the 

9 United States International Development Finance Cor10 poration (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Corporation’’) 

11 shall prioritize the provision of support to projects in the 

12 Philippines in sectors the Government of the Philippines 

13 is seeking to develop, including the mining of critical min14 erals and fossil fuels. 

15 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there17 after until the date that is 5 years after such date of en18 actment, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation 

19 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

20 a report that— 

21 (1) lists all the critical mineral and fossil fuel 

22 projects in the Philippines for which the Corporation 

23 provided support in the one-year period preceding 

24 submission of the report; 

25 (2) lists all the applications for support for such 

26 projects that the Corporation rejected; and 


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1 (3) provides a justification for rejecting such 

2 applications. 

3 SEC. 104. INTERAGENCY PLAN FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DE4 VELOPMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES TO SUP5 PORT MILITARY AND DISASTER RECOVERY 

6 OPERATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

9 shall— 

10 (1) lead an interagency effort to assess invest11 ments of the United States in the Philippines; and 

12 (2) develop a plan for how such investments can 

13 better enable efficient transportation during a con14 flict or other emergency scenario. 

15 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIR16 ING ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT.—The plan required by 

17 subsection (a)(2) shall— 

18 (1) identify— 

19 (A) infrastructure in the Philippines that 

20 the Secretary determines is insufficient to sup21 port military and disaster recovery operations; 

22 and 

23 (B) any asset that would assist the mili24 tary of the Philippines in the event of an attack 

25 on the Philippines; and 


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1 (2) assess whether any of such assets require 

2 additional investment by the United States to assist 

3 the military of the Philippines in the event of an at4 tack. 

5 (c) IDENTIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL UNITED

6 STATES AGENCIES TO MAKE INVESTMENTS.—The plan 

7 required by subsection (a)(2) shall identify United States 

8 Government agencies, such as the Office of Strategic Cap9 ital of the Department of Defense, that— 

10 (1) are not involved, as of the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, in infrastructure investment in the 

12 Philippines; and 

13 (2) could make investments that could assist 

14 the Government of the Philippines respond to an at15 tack on the Philippines. 

16 TITLE II—DIPLOMATIC 

17 MEASURES 

18 SEC. 201. STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING CHINA’S IL19 LEGAL, COERCIVE, AGGRESSIVE, AND DECEP20 TIVE TACTICS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of the United 

22 States that the actions of the People’s Republic of China 

23 in the South China Sea constitute illegal, coercive, aggres24 sive, and deceptive (ICAD) tactics. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that the United States Government should describe 

3 actions of the People’s Republic of China in the South 

4 China Sea as ICAD tactics and that doing so would help 

5 the diplomatic efforts of the Government of the Phil6 ippines. 

7 SEC. 202. MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE 

8 UNITED STATES, THE PHILIPPINES, THE RE9 PUBLIC OF KOREA, AND JAPAN. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 

11 for the Department of State and the United States Agency 

12 for International Development for fiscal year 2025 to sup13 port activities related to entering into and implementing 

14 a multilateral agreement with the Philippines, the Repub15 lic of Korea, and Japan for purposes of responding to ac16 tions of the People’s Republic of China in the South China 

17 Sea. 

18 TITLE III—MILITARY MEASURES 

19 SEC. 301. UNITED STATES-PHILIPPINES SECURITY CON20 SULTATIVE COMMITTEE. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

23 State and the Secretary of Defense shall establish a con24 sultative committee (to be known as the ‘‘United States25 Philippines Security Consultative Committee’’) to include 


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1 the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of De2 fense of the Philippines in the development of a strategy 

3 for jointly strengthening the national security and defense 

4 institutions of the Philippines and the capacity of such in5 stitutions to carry out operations across the Philippines 

6 (including inland and maritime areas) relating to— 

7 (1) counterterrorism and counterinsurgency; 

8 (2) counternarcotics and countering other forms 

9 of illicit trafficking; 

10 (3) cyber defense and prevention of cyber 

11 crimes; and 

12 (4) border and maritime security and air de13 fense. 

14 (b) ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS.—The United States15 Philippines Security Consultative Committee shall evalu16 ate— 

17 (1) existing technologies, equipment, and weap18 ons systems of the national security and defense in19 stitutions of the Philippines; and 

20 (2) the upgrades to such technologies, equip21 ment, and systems necessary to ensure the continued 

22 defense of the national sovereignty and national ter23 ritory of the Philippines. 

24 (c) BILATERAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE COOPERA25 TION.—Not later than 180 days after the establishment 


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1 of the United States-Philippines Security Consultative 

2 Committee, the Secretary of State, in coordination with 

3 the Secretary of Defense, may enter into consultations 

4 with the Government of Philippines to strengthen existing, 

5 or establish new, bilateral security and defense cooperation 

6 agreements or lines of effort to address capacity-building 

7 and resource needs identified by the consultative com8 mittee. 

9 (d) BRIEFINGS.— 

10 (1) CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE.—Not later 

11 than 30 days after the date on which the United 

12 States-Philippines Security Consultative Committee 

13 is established, and not later than 15 days after any 

14 meeting of the United States-Philippines Security 

15 Consultative Committee thereafter, the Secretary of 

16 State and the Secretary of Defense shall, on request 

17 by any of the appropriate committees of Congress, 

18 jointly brief the appropriate committees of Congress 

19 on progress made by the consultative committee. 

20 (2) BILATERAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE CO21 OPERATION.—Not later than 30 days after the com22 pletion of any consultation with the Government of 

23 Philippines under subsection (c), the Secretary of 

24 State and the Secretary of Defense shall brief the 

25 appropriate committees of Congress on the impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:04 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4703.IS S4703

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1 mentation of agreed upon areas of cooperation or 

2 lines of effort. 

3 (3) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS

4 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appro5 priate committees of Congress’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

7 and the Committee on Armed Services of the 

8 Senate; and 

9 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

10 the Committee on Armed Services of the House 

11 of Representatives. 

12 SEC. 302. REPORT ON DOMAIN AWARENESS GAPS OF THE 

13 PHILIPPINES. 

14 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit 

16 to Congress a report on gaps in the domain awareness 

17 of the Philippines that may be filled by broader Depart18 ment of Defense resourcing of new capabilities. 

19 SEC. 303. ASSESSMENT OF AND REPORT ON IMPROVE20 MENTS IN SECOND THOMAS SHOAL REGION 

21 OF THE PHILIPPINES. 

22 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

23 assess the feasibility of improving the force posture of the 

24 United States Armed Forces capable of deterring, in co25 operation with the military forces of the Philippines, hosVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:04 Aug 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4703.IS S4703

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1 tile acts against the Philippines with respect to the Second 

2 Thomas Shoal, including an assessment of potential fund3 ing sources to execute the planning for and design of im4 provements to the position of the BRP Sierra Madre. The 

5 Secretary shall carry out such assessment not later than 

6 180 days after enactment of this Act, and produce a re7 port to Congress on joint efforts between the Department 

8 of Defense and the Philippines to harden positions near 

9 the Second Thomas Shoal. 

10 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

12 shall submit to the Congress a report on the assessment 

13 carried out under subsection (a) and joint efforts between 

14 the Department of Defense and the Philippines to harden 

15 positions near the Second Thomas Shoal. 

Æ 


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