Marcos meets US ambassador Carlson in Palace

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. met US Ambassador Marykay Loss Carlson in Malacañang on Tuesday.

Photos posted by the Presidential Communications Office showed the ambassador conferring as well with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.

Carlson in January met Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to discuss plans for defense cooperation, which included new joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea.

"Certainly, this coming year, we expect both of our militaries to continue to cooperate and to exercise and to do whatever it takes both bilaterally, multilaterally to ensure the safety of our peoples," said Carlson in in a report on "24 Oras Weekend."

While the US Ambassador gave no details on discussions of future joint patrols, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. stated that the joint patrols were necessary to better enforce a rules-based international order. —NB, GMA Integrated News