President Marcos Jr. is back in the Philippines from Thailand, where his pitch for economic ties with other countries also achieved another dream—climate action.
In his arrival speech at the Villamor Air Base, the President said that in every discussion he had with his fellow economy leaders from the Asia-Pacific, there was always an expression of concern over climate change.
He said it was the "central" and "principled scientific approach" that all the leaders he met in Bangkok had.
"After the different problems that we were discussing, the overarching global concern for everyone is and should be global climate change issues," he said.
The President concluded on Saturday his trip to Thailand after participating in the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings and a meet-and-greet with the Filipino community there. At the APEC meetings, Marcos said all economy leaders seemed "to have realized" the threats of climate change, and thus "have come together" to try to mitigate it.
"Every discussion that we had, you can talk about the economy, you can talk about geopolitics, you can talk about anything, you can talk about going into detail, you talk about fisheries, you talk about governance, you talk about anything, and the subject of climate change will make itself felt," he said.
Pushing for climate action had been part of Marcos' agenda not only at APEC but also at the recently concluded Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Cambodia.
The President blamed developed countries for putting "the world in this situation" and for "changing the weather in the world."
He said it is now up to the developing countries, which include the Philippines, to hold the developed countries accountable.
"You start off talking about the economy, you end up somehow, at some point talking about climate change. And so I think there will be a very strong push," he said.
PR001 landed around 10:40 p.m.
In his pre-departure speech, Marcos said he hoped to "report good progress" once he returned to the country.
He said "the most important thing" that he achieved during his first participation in APEC meetings was that he was able to "surmise" that most countries almost shared the same problem.
"In other words, we have a consonance of views and analysis on the things that are to be of concern," he said.
"And furthermore, the solutions for that are things that we now have formulated," he added.
He said among those they were all concerned of were the subjects of climate change, supply chain, food supply, digitalization and women empowerment.
"It was a very useful and productive process," he said.