The United States wished the Philippines well in its reconstruction of Marawi City and pledged continued US support for stabilization efforts in Marawi and counter-terrorism operations in the Philippines.

This was the gist of last week's phone conversation between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, which was released Friday by the US State Department.

Tillerson also thanked Cayetano for the Philippines' strong leadership in opposing the Denocratic People's Republic of Korea's "unlawful nuclear and missile programs, particularly in its role as 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair."

According to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, "both sides agreed to work to increase bilateral cooperation under the US-Philippines alliance on these and other pressing issues in 2018." DMS