President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Thursday his plans to visit President Donald Trump of the United States to discuss topics related to relations between Manila and Washington.
Specific topics such as defense and America’s new policy for immigration caused commotion in the United States.
The President gave this statement on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Alternate Runway.
“I will meet with President Trump because I should. Because there’s much that we need to discuss between the US and the Philippines regarding trade, defense, security, and the new policy on immigration,” Marcos told reporters.
“Nagpauwi na ata ng ilang daan na Pilipino. This is something that we have to work through and hopefully resolve because Filipinos in the United States, especially, have already formed an important part of their workforce. Let’s see if we can influence policy-making in terms of immigration,” he added.
Marcos assured the Philippine government would try to “influence” the US immigration policy.
Foreign assistance was mentioned, and Marcos said it was “hard to comment” since the policy has yet to be clarified.
“It’s very unclear what it is. It’s even the agencies in the US government, hindi nila naintindihan what it means – ano ‘yung tatamaan, saan babawasan ang aid funds,” he said.
“Well, this is what happens. These are the growing pains of a new administration. But I’m sure, with time, these policies will crystalize and become clearer, by which time I will have a chance to visit with President Trump, and we can discuss it better with a better understanding of the policies,” Marcos added.
The Presidential Communications Office has not given a definite date for the President’s travel.