More envoys pay courtesy call on Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — At least four more ambassadors have paid courtesy calls on president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with the ambassador of the United Kingdom vowing to continue assisting the Philippines in strengthening its maritime defense capacity and asserting its rights over the West Philippine Sea.

Speaking to the media after her visit with Marcos at his headquarters in Mandaluyong City yesterday, UK Ambassador Laure Beaufils said she and the president-elect discussed many “areas of particular joint interests” such as the economy, trade, investments on infrastructure, energy and climate change impact mitigation.

“We also spoke about the peace process in Mindanao, we spoke about human rights and media freedom. We spoke about the broad range of areas of mutual interest for our countries and I said that I was very much looking forward to working with the next administration,” Beaufils added.

Asked about how the British government can help the Philippines in terms of tempering China’s activities in the West Philippine Sea, Beaufils said the UK will continue to back the Philippines in its push for China’s adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 ruling of Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) recognizing the Philippines’ rights over the West Philippine Sea.

Beaufils said the UK will also continue assisting the Philippines in terms of strengthening its maritime defense capacity through training and joint military exercises.

“The UK is also a maritime nation and we really are focused on the international maritime law, in particular the UNCLOS, so we’ve been working very closely with the Philippines in the past and we will continue to do so to support maritime law through training but also through joint exercises,” Beaufils said.

“We currently have a few British vessels in the region, we will build on that, our carrier strike group will be back to this part of the world in 2023,” she said. “We will continue to work with all partners interested in maintaining the international maritime law, the UNCLOS and the 2016 arbitral award as we move forward in the years to come.”

Marcos had earlier vowed to pursue a stronger policy in protecting the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea, stressing that his administration “will not allow a single square millimeter of our maritime costal rights to be trampled upon.”

Meanwhile, Singapore Ambassador Gerard Ho told the media that he extended to Marcos the invitation of Singapore President Halimah Yacob for a state visit, though he clarified that there are no details yet as they are still discussing the schedules of the two leaders.

Ho said that Singapore is committed to continuing its strong ties with the Philippines, especially in terms of trade and maintaining “peace and prosperity” in the Southeast Asian region.

“As you know, Singapore and Philippines are friends and close partners. (Our) countries are both founding members of ASEAN and successive generations of Singaporean and Philippine leaders have worked together for the peace and prosperity of the region,” Ho said.

Ho said that Singapore is optimistic of investment opportunities in the Philippines following “significant economic reforms” initiated by the outgoing Duterte administration and the economic and fiscal policies to be pursued by the incoming Marcos administration.

“I think with the resumption of cross-border travel, as well as the passage of a lot of significant economic reforms in the Philippines under the current administration, we are hopeful that we will continue to grow this bilateral economic relationship with the Philippines and it will continue to flourish,” Ho said.

“We see a lot of growth potentials in the Philippines and we hope to see more and more Singapore companies coming into the Philippine market,” Ho added.

European Union Ambassador Luc Véron and French Ambassador Michèle Boccoz also paid their courtesy visits to Marcos yesterday but did not grant interviews with the media due to “prior commitment.”

Marcos’ camp, in a press statement, however, said that both ambassadors expressed their “willingness to provide necessary assistance to hasten the country’s recovery from the ill-effects of the pandemic.”