The public must be "objective" in looking at President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s foreign trips as most of his trips "are really important," Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez said Thursday.
In fact, there were also other Philippine presidents who used to travel a lot, Romualdez added. One of them was former President Fidel V. Ramos, he said. "For one, who is a friend of ours, President Ramos. He traveled so many times, and many of the trips of President Ramos were important in the sense that he was out there promoting also the same thing: he wanted more economic activity," the envoy said in an interview with ANC.
Just like Ramos, Marcos is doing the same thing, according to Romualdez.
"It just seems so many because he has been in the office for the past seven months. But you know, all of these invitations had been made even before he took office... And many of them were carefully studied by the Department of Foreign Affairs," he said.
Take his participation at the UN General Assembly for example, the envoy noted.
Romualdez said it was important for the President because "he was going to be exposed to the Western world."
"So all of these trips have an objective," he said.
Romualdez, who used to join other former presidents in their foreign trips as part of business delegates, said there is much to be done for a chief executive whenever he or she goes out of the country.
"If you are going to compare the expense versus what is really important. It's really nothing in that sense... That's why we have to look at it really from a point, be very objective about it," he said.