PH President reaffirms strong Philippines-US ties, says partnership 'as active as it has ever been'
PHILIPPINES: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has described the relationship between the Philippines and the United States as stronger and more expansive than ever, making the remarks to reporters before departing Canada following a four-day official visit.
Speaking on Saturday (Canada time), President Marcos said the status of Manila’s ties with Washington has remained steady while continuing to deepen under his administration. This characterisation came amid a period of intensified security and economic engagement between the two longstanding allies, given the global issues that are currently happening.
“On our relations with the United States, well, those really have not changed status since I came into office. We just keep growing stronger together,” he said, as quoted by the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
A century-old partnership finding new ground
President Marcos framed the relationship in historical terms, describing the Philippines and the US as “strong partners for over a hundred years” whose bilateral engagements have grown broader and deeper with time.
According to the PNA, he also pointed to emerging technologies as opening new frontiers for cooperation, suggesting that the partnership is not simply maintaining its existing foundations but actively evolving to cover new ground.
“Our engagements with the United States have become deeper, have become more expansive and now with the new sectors that are being created by the new technologies, we have new areas even to explore,” the President stated.
He summed up the state of the relationship with a mix of English and Filipino: “Patuloy lang (Translation: it just continues), it is as strong, and it is as active as it has ever been, if not more so than before.”
The broader context
President Marcos’ remarks come at a time when the Philippines has been deepening its security arrangements with the US, including expanded access under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), joint military exercises, and closer coordination on maritime security in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.
At the same time, Manila has been walking a careful diplomatic line, maintaining its assertive posture against Chinese actions in the West Philippine Sea while keeping economic and diplomatic channels with Beijing open. In that context, President Marcos’ emphatic reaffirmation of the US partnership sends a clear signal about where the Philippines’ strategic anchor lies, even as it manages multiple relationships simultaneously.
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The mention of emerging technologies as a new frontier for cooperation also hints at areas beyond traditional security, potentially covering artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, semiconductors, and clean energy, all of which have featured prominently in recent US engagement across Southeast Asia.
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