MANILA – Si President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. noong Lunes ay tumanggap ng mga ambassador mula sa Singapore, United Kingdom, France, at European Union sa magkahiwalay na courtesy calls sa BBM headquarters sa Mandaluyong City.
Unang bumisita kay Marcos ay si Gerard Ho, Singapore Ambassador sa Pilipinas bandang alas-9 ng umaga na sinundan ng ilang sandali ni Ambassador Laure Beaufils ng United Kingdom.
Bandang alas-11 ng umaga, bumisita rin si European Union Ambassador Luc Vèron na sinundan ni Ambassador Michelle Boccoz ng France na dumating bandang alas-12 ng tanghali.
Sa kanilang mga pribadong pagpupulong, ang mga envoy ay nanumpa na palalakasin ang ugnayan sa kalakalan at diplomasya, gayundin ang kanilang mga karaniwang interes sa demokrasya, self-determination, at economic recovery.
Hinarap ni Ho ang media kasunod ng pakikipagpulong nila ni Marcos para pag-usapan ang maikling pakikipagpulong niya sa bagong pangulo.
“As you know, Singapore and Philippines are friends and close partners. (Our) countries are both founding members of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and successive generations of Singaporean and Philippine leaders have worked together for the peace and prosperity of the region,” wika ni Ho sa kanyang pambungad na pahayag sa media.
“In fact, during our conversation earlier with president-elect, we talked about all the conversations our founding father Mr. Lee and his father Mr. Ferdinand Marcos had talked about when we were discussing developments in the region and working together on it,” dagdag ni Ho.
Tinalakay din ni Ho ang mga reporma sa ekonomiya sa pagitan ng dalawang bansa sa Asya.
“I think with the resumption of cross-border travel, as well as the passage of a lot of significant economic reforms in the PH, we are hopeful that we continue to grow this bilateral economic relationship with the PH and it will continue to flourish,” sabi ng ambassador.
“We see a lot of growth potential in the Philippines and we hope to see more and more Singapore companies coming into the Philippines’ market,” dagdag ni Ho.
Kinumpirma rin ni Ho na inimbitahan ni Singapore President Halimah Yacob si Marcos na bumisita sa kanilang bansa.
Gayunman, nilinaw niya na wala pang detalye sa ngayon dahil pinag-uusapan pa nila ang schedule ng dalawang lider.
Samantala, iginiit din ni Beaufils ang magandang relasyon ng kanilang bansa sa Pilipinas.
“So, I am delighted that I just came out of the meeting with the President-elect which was really useful, very informative, and very warm. I was able to set out that the UK already has a really strong bilateral relationship with the Philippines and a strong friendship between our countries and between our peoples and that we intend to take that from strength to strength over the course of the president-elect’s administration,” wika ni Beaufils.
“We were able to discuss areas of particular joint interests where we want to further work together and expand and broaden and deepen our collaboration. For example, as you know, the president-elect is very focused on the economy and we… boosting the economy after the pandemic and we were able to discuss what the UK has been doing in that space and what more we would do support businesses, to support trade, to support investments and infrastructure in particular,” dagdag niya.
Dagdag pa ni Beaufils, napag-usapan din nila ang climate change, energy, peace process sa Mindanao at gayundin ang human rights at media freedom.
“And I said I was very much looking forward to working with the next administration,” wika nin Beaufils.
Hindi pinayagan ng mga ambassador mula sa France at EU ang pakikipanayam sa media dahil sa mga naunang pangako.
Noong nakaraang linggo, tinanggap ni Marcos, ang Chargé d’Affaires ng Estados Unidos, at ang mga Ambassador mula sa Japan, South Korea, at India sa magkahiwalay na pagpupulong noong Lunes sa punong-tanggapan ng BBM sa lungsod ng Mandaluyong.
Tiniyak din ng mga envoy kay Marcos ang kanilang pagpayag na magbigay ng kinakailangang tulong upang mapabilis ang pagbangon ng bansa mula sa masamang epekto ng pandemya.
