Philippines, US have 'very open' communication lines—Marcos
The communication lines between the Philippines and the United States "are very open," allowing both countries to continuously examine regional issues including the situation in the West Philippine Sea.

President Marcos stated this as he welcomed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III at the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday, July 30.
"Welcome back to the Philippines and I'm always very happy that these communication lines are very open so that all the things that we are doing together, in terms of our alliance, in terms of the specific context of our situation here in the West Philippine Sea and in the Indo-Pacific are continuously examined and re-examined so we are agile in terms of our responses," Marcos said during the US officials courtesy call.
He also thanked the American officials for visiting Manila despite the current political situation in their country ahead of the polls.
"But we are very happy to see you once again. I'm a bit surprised considering how interesting your political situation has become back in the States but I'm glad that you found the time to come and visit with us," he said.
In his remark, Blinken thanked Marcos for the warm welcome. He also expressed sympathy to all the victims of the recent super typhoon that hit the Philippines.
"Mr. President, thank you so much. Thank you for the --- as always the warm welcome. I bring you greetings from President Biden, Vice President Harris along with Secretary Austin," Blinken said.
"We're very, very pleased to be here. Let me just start by sending our deepest condolences to all the victims of the recent typhoon and to say again, anything we can do to be of assistance, we welcome doing that," he added.
Blinken and Austin are in Manila to attend the 4th Philippines-U.S. Foreign and Defense Ministerial (2+2) Dialogue hosted by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
According to the DFA, the four secretaries are set to engage on further enhancing the two nations’ commitment to the Philippines-US alliance while enabling a common program in support of the rules-based international order, enhanced economic ties and broad-based prosperity, as well as solutions to evolving regional and global security challenges.