President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named (from left) Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, and Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III as the country’s caretakers while he attends the Asean summit in Malaysia from May 26 to 27. - File photos from Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau via PDI/ANN
MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has assigned Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III as caretakers of the country during his trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the 2025 Asean summit.
Marcos is set to meet the leaders present at the Asean summit from May 26 to 27. He departed for Malaysia at 1 p.m. on Sunday (May 25).
In a message to reporters, Bersamin said the country’s caretakers will be “the same, ES (executive secretary, SOJ (secretary of justice), and SAR (secretary of agrarian reform),” while the chief executive is out of the country.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Dominic Xavier Imperial revealed that Marcos will also participate in the 16th Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area Summit, the 2nd Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, and the Asean-GCC-China Summit.
He added that the President will likewise join in nine leaders-level engagements, the plenary session and the retreat session of the 46th Asean Summit, three leaders’ interface meetings with the parliamentarians with the Asean Business Advisory Council, and attend the signing ceremony of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Asean 2045.
“Now in all these engagements, the President will continue to uphold and promote Philippine interests in Asean, such as deepening security and stability in the region, economic cooperation, and broadening engagement with dialogue partners,” Imperial said.
“The summit is a mechanism for leaders to provide policy direction for Asean, build consensus on matters of mutual interest, and exchange views on key regional and international issues,” he added. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
