(BusinessWorld) PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday said the United States remains a key partner, adding that not having it as an ally is inconceivable.
“I cannot see the Philippines in the future without having the United States as a partner,” he told New York Stock Exchange chief commercial officer John Tuttle, based on a transcript sent by the presidential palace.
“Many of the drivers of our early economy were actually American corporations,” he added.
Mr. Marcos made the remark amid escalating competition between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Many of the strongest corporate benefactors to the government and to the rest of society in the Philippines were coming from the United States,” he said.
Strengthening the Philippine-US alliance is “extremely necessary” as the world faces economic and geopolitical crises, Mr. Marcos said. “This is something that is central to our thinking when it comes to the economic planning for the Philippines.”
The president noted that when the Philippines is in a crisis, it always looks to the US. “The reason we have done that is that for the most part, we can say that the United States has not failed us.”
“We are driven together in many ways by forces that exist now in the world.”
Ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte, his predecessor, led a foreign policy pivot to China away from western super powers such as the US. He terminated an unpopular visiting forces agreement with the US and often verbally assaulted top US officials, including ex-President Barack Obama, who have been critical of his war on drugs. .. Read More
