“MORE than rock solid.”

This is how US Secretary Anthony Blinken described the relationship between the Philippines and the United States.

Blinken said this is also the priority of US President Joe Biden.

Blinken paid a courtesy call on President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. at the Malacanan Palace.

“I think it’s so important to us is that, even with dealing with those other challenges, our focus, our engagement, our commitment, to Indo pacific, at large and to the relationship, alliance between US and PH in particular, is more than rock solid, it’s the absolute priority of President Biden, that’s why he asked me to be here,” Blinken said.

“Our relationship between the Philippines and the United States is in hyperdrive, [if that is a word you’re willing to use], and that is so true, we see it across every domain, it’s something we attach with great importance,” Blinken said.

Marcos will have a trilateral meeting with Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on April in Washington.

“And now we have your upcoming visit to Washington, to see President Biden and also to have a trilateral meeting with President Prime Minister Kishida, I think a new horizon of cooperation is also incredibly promising, but it is also building on the very strong foundation of our countries where we have the same priorities whether it’s economic development, whether it’s dealing with climate change, with food security, of course upholding international law, all these things are front and center (at the end of the day), Blinken said.

For his part, Marcos thanked Blinken for visiting the country.

“I hope that all these efforts we are making are making some success because it is of great importance to [us too, as you well know, we have spoken about this before.] These things are somehow toned down, I can’t see how you are going to do that. Some easing tension, seen in the near future,” Marcos said.

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Chona Yu