President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he and US President-elect Donald Trump discussed their countries’ desire to strengthen the relationship.
Marcos told reporters on Tuesday that the phone call with Trump was “very friendly” and “very productive”, and said he planned to see Trump the soonest.“I think President-elect Trump was happy to hear from the Philippines,” said Marcos, whose two-year-old administration has strengthened Manila’s defence relationship with Washington.
Marcos has sought to rebuild ties that frayed under his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was openly hostile to the United States.
Last year, he made the first official visit by a Philippine leader to the United States in more than 10 years.
Marcos is the son of the late strongman Ferdinand and former first lady Imelda Marcos, whom Washington helped flee into exile in Hawaii during the 1986 “people power” uprising.
He said Trump had asked about his 95-year-old mother. “He asked, ‘How is Imelda?’ I told him she’s congratulating you,” he said.
The Philippines, a former US colony, is seen as central to Washington’s efforts to counter China’s increasingly assertive policies in the South China Sea and towards Taiwan.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday visited the Philippine military’s Western Command on the island of Palawan, next to the South China Sea, where he reiterated Washington’s commitment to the Philippines under their 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty. — Reuters
