MANILA - American and Filipino troops have scheduled amphibious drills next month, the US Embassy in Manila said Saturday, even as President Rodrigo Duterte talks tough against Washington.

The annual Philippines Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) will be held from October 4 to 12 in multiple locations in Luzon, including Palawan, which fronts reefs and outcrops that are being contested by Manila and Beijing, according to an embassy statement.

It will be the first war games between the two treaty allies under the new Philippine leader Duterte, who has hit out at the United States for criticizing his bloody war on drugs.

Approximately 1,400 US servicemen based in Okinawa and 500 Filipino soldiers will train "side-by-side to grow capabilities and better prepare to operate together during a natural disaster or armed conflict," according to the statement.

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— U.S. Embassy Manila (@usembassymanila) September 24, 2016

“Exchanging expertise and cultivating our longstanding security alliance provides a cornerstone for security and stability in the region, and has for decades," said said Brigadier General John M. Jansen, commanding general of the US 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

Aside from live-fire drills, PHIBLEX 33 will also have humanitarian and civic assistance components, the embassy said.

The US will field three amphibious attack and transport ships: USS BHR, USS Green Bay and USS Germantown while the Philippine Navy will deploy its newest strategic sealift vessel, the BRP Tarlac, the embassy said.

Duterte this month said US Special Forces in Mindanao "must go" to give way to the government's peace negotiations with Muslim rebels. He later clarified that Manila needed Washington to defend its interests in the South China Sea.

Angered by American officials' criticism of his anti-narcotics drive, Duterte threatened to curse at US President Barack Obama and raised US wartime abuses during its occupation of the Philippines in the early 1900s.

This week, Duterte said Obama was welcome to join an international investigation on the mounting deaths linked to his war on drugs.

Duterte has also signaled a thaw in ties with China that have been strained a bitter sea row. He appointed ex-President Fidel Ramos as special envoy to Beijing to discuss a United Nations-backed arbitration court's ruling that favored the Philippines.