August 10, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has personally thanked visiting members of the US Congress for Washington’s $500-million military aid to the Philippines, citing the importance of “strong” backing from a powerful ally in confronting “new challenges.”
A US congressional delegation, led by Rep. Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas), chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs and chairman emeritus of the House committee on homeland security, paid a courtesy call on Marcos at Malacañang on Thursday.
Their meeting with Marcos came on the heels of the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III last week.
“Again, on behalf of the Philippines, we express our gratitude for all the United States has done and continues to do in support of our alliance and to strong adherence for the Philippines,” the President told the US legislators.
Rep. Addison Graves Wilson (Republican-2nd district of South Carolina), a member of the House committee on foreign affairs, was also part of the US delegation.
McCaul praised Marcos for his “very strong” speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in May, which was “very well” received for his stand on freedom.
Marcos, as keynote speaker at Asia’s premier defense summit, condemned threats to freedom in the West Philippine Sea.
McCaul cited the significance of including the Philippines in the US’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF).
“The supplemental (appropriation) is very important, we see Israel, see Ukraine, see Indo-Pacific – three areas in the world, three regions (receiving) attacks from tyrannical governments. We see President Putin and President Xi made an alliance in Beijing,” McCaul said.
McCaul gifted Marcos with a pair of boots from Texas, which the President exchanged with a Philippine coin.
“Texan boots were made for walkin’! I had to give Rep. Michael McCaul a coin in return – as the Filipinos know,” Marcos said in a post on Instagram, accompanied by a photo with the US officials, referring to a Filipino superstition that a gift of a pair of shoes should be matched by the receiver giving a coin as token, to avoid bad luck.
“It was a pleasure as always to exchange views with you. I hope the Philippines and US will keep walking towards our shared vision of a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Marcos said.
Blinken and Austin announced last week a $500-million allocation for the Philippines out of the $2.5-billion FMF supplemental budget for the Indo-Pacific. The top US officials attended the 4th Phl-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Manila last week.
In a statement yesterday, the Presidential Communications Office said the visiting lawmakers “were primarily interested in hearing the Philippines’ views and concerns about China and what the US can do to support its assertion of its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea.” The US is the Philippines’ oldest and only treaty ally.
Last year, the US ranked as the third top Philippine trading partner with total trade valued at $19.96 billion. In the same period, the US ranked as the Philippines’ top export market and fifth import source, amounting to $11.54 billion and $8.41 billion, respectively.
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