Preparations underway for Marcos US trip in September — Amb. Romualdez

Preparations are ongoing for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trip to the United States in September to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in his first foray into the international diplomatic arena where he may deliver a speech, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said Monday.

Romualdez said several bilateral meetings have been lined up for Marcos, but did not say if a side meeting with US President Joe Biden is included.

“This is the first time that he will be addressing the UN – which is basically introducing himself to the world and the western world, specially, and secondly, to have economic meetings that will bring him investments to the Philippines,” Romualdez told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in a briefing.

He earlier said he prefers a separate inaugural bilateral summit between Marcos Jr. and Biden in Washington D.C. at a mutually agreed date sometime this year.

Marcos, he said, has already drafted his speech, which he will deliver before the UN General Assembly.

“I think the President is preparing his speech. He’s had an outline about a month from now,” he said.

Romualdez, meanwhile, said Marcos is prepared to address questions on human rights issues on the Philippines, particularly the violent drug war by his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, that killed thousands.

“I’m sure there will be questions asked about that, but I think he has already made it clear that in his pronouncement in the PNP (Philippine National Police) that he would like to continue the operations against illegal drug activities following the rule of law,” he said.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands has been investigating the allegations of extrajudicial killings in the anti-illegal drugs campaign of Duterte.

In September 2021, the ICC authorized the start of the investigation into the killings but, in November 2021, the ICC prosecutor temporarily suspended the probe upon the request of the Philippine government.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Khan in June 2022 requested to resume the investigation and, in July 2022, the tribunal invited the Philippines to provide observations on the prosecutor's request to reopen the probe into the killings.

The ICC gave the Philippines until September 8, 2022 to provide any observations on the planned reopening of the investigation.

“This government of Marcos has clearly set out the rule of what police officers would have to do following the rule of law and making use of using restraint,” Romualdez said.

While in the US, Marcos is also scheduled to meet with various American business groups and investors who would like to expand operations in the Philippines, the ambassador said.

“His main thrust in relations with other countries is to have more economic activity so we planned out to have several meetings with business councils and several groups and also individual meetings with potential companies that would like to invest or already invested in the Philippines,” Romualdez said.—AOL, GMA News