"The United States and the Philippines are more than just allies. We're family."
That's what U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says.
And in the most basic sense, he's completely right.
The two countries have a long and storied history dating all the way back to 1587, if you can believe it.
That's when Filipinos first arrived in Morro Bay, California, followed by a permanent settlement in Louisiana in 1763.
From there, Filipino Americans scrambled to help fight off the British in the War of 1812, taking part in the Battle of New Orleans.
Meanwhile, back home in the Pacific, America's revolt against British rule inspired Filipinos to shed the yoke of their Spanish colonizers.
The 1896-1898 Philippine Revolution against Spain paved the way for the United States to purchase the territory from Spain as a concession in the Spanish-American War.
But then things kind of soured.
America invaded and destroyed the First Philippine Republic and then ruled the country until 1946, when it was finally granted independence.
Of course, the United States and the Philippines continued to cooperate militarily.
The 1947 Military Bases Agreement gave the United States a 99-year lease on a number of Philippine military and naval bases. And in 1951, the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty that remains in force even today, 72 years later.
Still, the relationship remained rocky, checkered by a litany of abuses by American soldiers posted overseas, particularly against women.
In one recent and abhorrent case, a U.S. marine murdered a trans woman. After being found guilty, he was pardoned by former President Rodrigo Duterte and allowed to return to the United States.
Understandably, there's some resentment, which came to a head back in 1991, when the Philippines opted out of its base agreement with the United States.
Once home to 15,000 U.S. troops and two of the largest American military bases in Asia, the Philippines were completely free of U.S. forces by November 1992.
Nevertheless, as Austin said, we're family, and families have a way of coming back together - even after horrible fights or ugly falling outs.
This is especially true when a family member is threatened.
That's the case today.
Over the course of the past decade, China has gone from a rising threat to an active one. It's claimed the entirety of the South China Sea as its own, using threats and intimidation to sideline its half-dozen neighbors in the region, including the Philippines.
To further cement its claim, China has expanded and fabricated artificial islands that now host harbors, airstrips, and barracks.
Since 2014, China has built 10 artificial island bases, including one at Mischief Reef, inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
While the U.S. Navy continues to conduct so-called freedom of navigation missions, vessels in the South China Sea are constantly harassed by Chinese forces.