Marcos receives ASEAN, Italy envoys

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday received the third batch of ambassadors from various countries who affirmed their support for his incoming administration.

Paying their courtesy calls on Marcos at his headquarters in Mandaluyong City yesterday were Ambassadors Johariah Wahab of Brunei Darussalam and Marco Clemente of Italy.

Wahab also paid her courtesy visit to Marcos as one of the representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Joining Wahab were Thailand Chargé d’ Affaires Thawat Sumitmor as well as Ambassadors Songkane Luangmuninthone of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Phan Peuv of Cambodia, Agus Widjojo of Indonesia, Gerard Ho of Singapore and Hoang Huy Chung of Vietnam.

The visits were closed to the press. But in a briefing afterwards, press secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Marcos and Clemente discussed four areas of cooperation – political, economic, person-to-person cooperation and COVID pandemic recovery.

“On the political aspect, the ambassador noted that this is the 75th year of Italian-Philippine diplomatic relations. On the economic front, they talked about possible cooperation in infrastructure projects. They also talked about COVID and cooperation on learning about COVID responses and opening up the economy,” Angeles said.

“On person-to-person cooperation, the ambassador noted his appreciation of the Filipino community in Italy. He also (revealed) his plan to bring the Inter Milan football club here on an inter-campus project to benefit children in need and to promote football,” Angeles added.

Angeles said she has yet to get details about the meeting between Marcos and Brunei’s Wahab.

But in a post on his official Twitter account, Marcos said he and Wahab discussed various areas of collaboration especially in the field of health, labor, education and culture.

Marcos had earlier received at his headquarters the ambassadors from Japan, South Korea and India as well as the Chargé d’ Affaires of the United States.

Last week, Marcos also received the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Singapore, European Union and France.

Marcos had earlier met with US Chargé d’ Affaires Heather Variava who paid him a courtesy visit at his headquarters last May 23.

Marcos said that aside from discussing the assistance that the US government is willing to extend to the Philippines in terms of economic recovery and mitigating the impacts of climate change, he and Variava also talked about regional security concerns and the re-signing or extension of a “redefined” US Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines.