(CNN) Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday it was "unfortunate" that the Philippine government decided to terminate a military agreement between Washington and Manila but cautioned that the Pentagon had only received notification about the move in the last few hours and wanted to hear from his military commanders before charting a path forward following the announcement.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, which was signed in 1988, US military aircraft and vessels are allowed free entry into the the Philippines. US military personnel are also subjected to relaxed visa and passport policies in under the pact, according to CNN Philippines.

"We just got the notification late last night, we have to digest it, we have to work through the policy angles, the military angles, I want to hear from my commanders, but you know in my view it's unfortunate that they would make this move," Esper told reporters on his plane traveling from Washington to Brussels where he is scheduled to meet with NATO defense ministers.

Esper, who recently visited the Philippines, has repeatedly voiced concern over China's increasingly expansive role in the Indo-Pacific region but said he did not necessarily view the announcement as a win for Beijing.

"I don't think it's necessarily tied to China. As you know it's tied to some other issues. So again, I'm going to take this one step at a time. I don't get too excited about these things. We've got a process we have to work through. We just received it 9 hours ago," he said.

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