The relationship between the United States and the Philippines remains “very strong,” an US official said Sunday, the 75th anniversary of the landing of American forces in Leyte which led to the liberation of the country from Japanese occupation.

US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission John Law said the alliance between the US and the Philippines was “tested in war, forged in fire, and tempered with blood.”

“And that alliance endures and thrives today,” Law said in his speech.

President Rodrigo Duterte, through a speech read by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, said Leyte was not just a “military victory but a victory that solidify the bond between the Philippines and the United States, an iron-clad friendship that endures up to this very day.”

Duterte paid tribute to the gallantry of the veterans who sacrificed their lives.

“May their sacrifices inspire us to be more decisive in confronting the modern challenges that we now face as a nation,” he said.

Duterte said these challenges include poverty, environmental degradation, criminality, corruption, illegal drugs, and terrorism.

Also present were Australian Ambassador Steven James Robinson and Yasushi Yamamoto, Japanese deputy chief of mission who expressed his condolences to the families whose loved ones perished during World War II. DMS