Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. made the announcement Tuesday night on social media and said President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the State Department to inform the U.S. Embassy in Manila of the government`s decision to suspend the termination of the VFA. In February, Duterte ordered the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement, jeopardizing security coverage for the Philippines, which faces increasingly hostile Chinese actions in the South China Sea. As part of the deal, Washington and Manila had 180 days after giving notice — in this case until August — to try to save the deal. This measure increases uncertainties about the future of military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines, an important part of the U.S. security situation in Asia. .