PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta has returned to the United States as part of a five-day official working visit.
The First Couple landed at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S.A.
Marcos is set to meet with US President Joe Biden as part of their mutual reaffirmation of the two countries
The visit marks the first time in more than ten years that a Philippine President went on an official visit to the United States.
Both leaders are expected to discuss the situation in the Indo Pacific region.
They will also tackle the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty.
“The reason it has to evolve is because conditions are changing, the conditions under which the Mutual Defense Treaty was written, the original one, are completely different from the conditions that we are facing now. China of course has become very dominant in the region. The United States has become less so, but then other players like ASEAN member states, all the Asian states they have also changed their position in the world,” Marcos said during a media briefing aboard his flight en route to Washington.
“That’s why we call it a continuing evolution because we have to be able to respond to the situation as it happens. And once the situation change, we should also be able to be responsive to that. So yun ang pinag-uusapan natin, and all of these things, that’s really one of the main purposes of the visit,” he added.
He is also expected to push for “greater economic engagement, particularly through trade and investment and science, technology, and innovation cooperation, between the United States and the Philippines” during this trip.
“Marami tayong gustong gawin firstly on the economic level and again, on our priority sectors, agriculture, power, infrastructure, all of these new technologies that we have been discussing. There’s even a proposal for the (battery technologies?) to come to the Philippines. All of these things, that’s on the economic level,” he said.
The president is also set t meet with the members of the Filipino community in Washington as well as a policy speech.
After his visit on May 4, Marcos will be going to the United Kingdom to attend the historic coronation of King Charles II in London on May 6.
Catherine R. Cueto
