By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has expressed optimism that the Philippines will be able to sustain its strong economic, diplomatic, and defense relations with the United States under President-elect Donald Trump’s leadership.
This, as Marcos, during a telephone call with outgoing US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, emphasized the significant progress in the two nations’ bilateral ties.
“As typical with the relationship between the Philippines and the US, it’s on every level, in every facet: on the economic level, on the diplomatic level, and defense and security,” Marcos told Harris, as quoted by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) in a news release Wednesday.
“And the progress that we have made is terribly encouraging and we just hope to build on that and continue to work on what we have begun and continue to stand for our shared values and the rule of international law,” he added.
Harris said there is “bipartisan support” within the US Congress and Washington for the strengthening of ties with the Philippines, especially in terms of security, economic prosperity and people-to-people connections.
She also stressed the need to maintain the US’ steadfast support for the Philippines, especially amid China’s continued aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Indeed, and I will tell you from my first visit to Manila and our first conversation, it is extremely important to me and to the United States that we reaffirm the commitment to the defense of the Philippines, including the South China Sea,” Harris told Marcos.
Marcos thanked Harris for her continued support for the Philippines, acknowledging the robust and productive partnership with the United States under the watch of outgoing US President Joe Biden.
“Madame Vice President, before I came to this call, I was going through all of the things that we had discussed in the past couple of years. And it is remarkable how much work we have been able to do and how much it has progressed and developed the relationship between our two countries – already very strong relationship but evolving and evolving for the modern challenges that we face, both for us and the South China Sea and for the United States, around the world,” he said.
“As I told President Biden when I spoke to him, I said that, I remember … just before we signed the trilateral agreement in Washington, that, I said to President Biden that this will change the dynamic of the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific. And it certainly has done that,” Marcos added.
Trilateral cooperation with US, Japan
Marcos acknowledged that the Philippines’ trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan has gained recognition within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), strengthening the regional bloc’s collective position on pressing issues in the WPS.
Harris also emphasized the importance of the Philippines, the US and Japan’s trilateral cooperation, saying it is “a very important way to deepen our economic cooperation and build secured supply chains as well as promote security across the region.”
“And I echo the President’s (Biden) conversation with you about the work that you will do with the next administration in terms of reinforcing the importance of that trilateral cooperation and the critical nature of it to maintain security in the South China Sea,” she said.
In a virtual trilateral meeting on Monday, Marcos, Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing the three nations’ cooperation, with a focus on maritime security, economic resilience, and technology.
Biden and Harris have been engaging in calls with allies and partners ahead of the conclusion of their terms on Jan. 20, 2025.
Key role in PH-US stronger ties
Marcos and Harris met a couple of times, the first was during the US official’s visit to Manila in November 2022.
Marcos also had a meeting with Harris before the beginning of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in November 2023 in San Francisco to discuss the Philippine assessment of the situation in the WPS.
Marcos lauded Harris for her significant contributions to the Philippines, saying her efforts have provided a strong foundation for continued collaboration between the two nations.
Before the telephone call concluded, Marcos invited Harris to again visit the Philippines.
The Philippines and the US established formal diplomatic relations on July 4, 1946.
The US is also the Philippines’ oldest and only treaty ally.
Bilateral defense and security engagement remains the key pillar of the Philippine-US bilateral relations and is carried out within the framework of the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and other bilateral agreements.
In 2023, the US ranked as the third top trading partner of the Philippines with total trade valued at USD19.96 billion. (PNA)