MANILA: House Speaker Martin Romualdez has reiterated President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s stance that the Philippines is a “friend of all and enemy to none” amid the country’s apparent security and defence talks with Japan.
Such talks may even lead to the Philippines and Japan crafting its own Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), at least based on pundits’ observation of Marcos’ ongoing visit to the East Asian nation.
In a press briefing with Manila-based reporters, Romualdez was asked if he thought regional power China would feel “threatened” by such a pact between Manila and Tokyo, as this would involve the conduct of joint military exercises.
“Well, the President has made his foreign policy, very clear. He is a friend of all and the enemy to none, so he doesn’t want…The President feels that peace is the most important ingredient in any foreign policy declaration,” said Romualdez, who is part of the Philippine delegation to Japan.
Earlier in the interview, the Leyte 1st district representative told the journalists that he believed the Philippines and Japan were moving in the “general direction” of a VFA, or something similar.
At any rate, Romualdez–one of Marcos’ most trusted lieutenants–acknowledged that such a security pact would be a boon to the Philippines.
“Now, what we’re doing is this… It’s also the capacity-building for the part of the Philippines,” he said.
“In fact, we are in the winning side of all of these types of arrangements or agreements because as you know, we still are a bit challenged when it comes to our defence capabilities and whatnot. So we definitely would be the most benefited one.”
The social and economic benefits resulting from his five-day official visit to Japan will be felt by Filipinos momentarily, Marcos Jr. said Saturday.
In a video message posted on his Instagram page, Marcos said, “We are beginning to come to the conclusion of our visit here.”
“The official visit that we have made, of the Philippine delegation to Japan... and it has been a very, very productive visit,” the President said
The Philippine delegation raked in 35 investment pledges spanning business interests in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, among others.
The President has yet to disclose the total amount of investment pledges to the Philippines.
“I think that we will be able to feel the effects of these discussions, of these agreements very, very soon, very rapidly back home in the Philippines,” the chief executive said.
“It’s a particularly important visit because it is really setting down a blueprint for our relations as we slowly emerge from the pandemic economy,” he said.
The President said the deals sealed by the Philippine delegation - top executive and legislature officials and business leaders - “cut across the whole gamut.”
“We are talking about agriculture, we are talking about digitalization, we are talking about industry, we are talking about automotive development, we are talking about energy, even education, tourism.
“We have discussed great many subjects,” Marcos said.
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