Philippine armored personnel carriers (back) speed past US marines and army using humvees and Interim armored vehicle strykers during the live fire exercises, as part of the annual US-Philippines joint military exercise at Crow Valley, in Capas town, Tarlac province, north of Manila on April 10, 2019. (TED ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA - The Philippines and the United States will meet this month to iron out differences over a two-decade-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Manila’s top diplomat said.

The Philippines in November suspended its decision to terminate the VFA for a second time to allow it to work with Washington on a long-term mutual defence pact.

President Rodrigo Duterte notified Washington in February last year that he was canceling the deal amid outrage over a senator and ally being denied a US visa

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“The suspension was intended that we should continue working and I am narrowing down the issues and soon we will meet...and iron out whatever differences we have,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin told ANC news channel on Monday, adding a meeting was likely in the last week of February.

He declined to elaborate on the terms of a potential agreement.

President Rodrigo Duterte notified Washington in February last year that he was canceling the deal amid outrage over a senator and ally being denied a US visa.

But he has extended the termination process, which has now reached US President Joe Biden’s term.

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The VFA provides the legal framework under which US troops can operate on a rotational basis in the country and experts say without it their other bilateral defence agreements, including the Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), cannot be implemented.