'Conditions are right" for Marcos-Biden meeting, says Speaker Romualdez
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (left) and his United States (US) President Joe Biden (MANILA BULLETIN, Wikipedia)
The "conditions are right" for a meeting between President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and his American counterpart, President Joe Biden. Thus, said House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who arguably laid down the groundwork for such an important meeting the past couple of weeks. “I think the conditions are right for the meeting between President Bongbong Marcos and President Joe Biden. We have high hopes for the exchange of ideas between the two leaders and its outcome,” Romualdez, Leyte's 1st district representative in Philippine Congress, said in a statement Wednesday, April 26. Just days before Marcos’ visit to the United States (US), the Speaker embarked on a two-week trip stateside to meet with American lawmakers and discuss defense and security cooperation and economic partnership between the two long-time allied nations. Marcos' meeting with Biden will be conducted in the backdrop of the Philippines' continued economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and heightened tension with China. Romualdez is still in the US, following up on his earlier interactions with his US counterpart, Speaker Kevin McArthy, and other American lawmakers and officials. The Speaker and his delegation also had meetings with US House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Representatives Young Kim, Mike Rogers, Darrell Issa, Ami Bera, and Chris Stewart. He has described his meeting with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives and other lawmakers as “historic and fruitful". It was the first meeting between two House Speakers of the two countries in recent years. “Our meeting proved fruitful as the Philippine delegation managed to impress on Speaker McCarthy the need for the legislative representatives of the two countries to ramp up discussions on how to further boost US-Philippine relations,” said Romualdez, who pundits have described as Marcos' top ally in Philippine legislature. “Relations between our two countries remain strong. Our security alliance under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty is ironclad. Our economic partnership is robust. And the friendship between our two peoples is solid,” the Speaker said.