Palace working on possible Marcos US state visit

WASHINGTON – The government is working on a possible state visit of President Marcos here, citing the need to further strengthen the Philippines’ economic ties with its traditional ally and trading partner, the United States.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the state visit may happen before or after the summit for democracy being organized by the White House.

Various heads of government will be invited to the summit slated for June next year.

“We are working on President Marcos going to the United States, to come and visit Washington. We will try to time it when there is a summit for democracy next year that the White House is organizing... We will try to see if we can do one before that summit or after that summit,” Romualdez told reporters Tuesday.  

“We will try to work around it. The problem of course is there will be many countries that will be invited and they’re thinking about the same thing and in our case, we never had a Philippine president come to Washington in a very long time and in the White House,” he added.

Romualdez clarified that while the summit for democracy is an opportunity to schedule a state visit, the plan is “still up in the air.”

Marcos visited the US last month but his main agenda was to join the 77th United Nations General Assembly. His six-day working visit marked the first time a Philippine president set foot in the US in six years. Marcos’ predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, did not visit the US.

Romualdez said a state visit here would be good for the continuing relationship between the Philippines and the US.

“We are in for a very good working relationship and renewed relationship that I think will be on a different level now. It will be more on what we both need... President Marcos is very clear about what he wants. He said he would like to have more economic activity,” the envoy said.

“His real goal is to have economic prosperity. As President Marcos said, our relationship with the United States is long and special,” he added.

Romualdez noted that most of Marcos’ meetings during his recent visit to New York were with business executives and these tackled the government’s economic programs.

Marcos also met with US President Joseph Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and affirmed the longstanding ties between the two countries.

According to Romualdez, Biden was “responsive” to Marcos’ invitation for him to visit the Philippines.

“He’s (Biden) actually responsive to the invitation of President Marcos when they spoke in New York and he even joked about it and many of his advisers in the White House have told me that he really is seriously looking at going to Manila at some point in time.

But it is definitely not going to happen this year,” he said.

During his bilateral meeting with Biden, Marcos called the US a “partner,” “ally” and “friend.”

Biden, meanwhile, reiterated that the relationship between Manila and Washington is “ironclad.”  

In a speech delivered during the New York Stock Exchange economic forum, Marcos said he could not imagine the Philippines’ future without the US as a partner.