He sees the long-time friendship between the Philippines and the US to bloom even further under President-elect Marcos Jr.’s administration
Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez won’t be going back home to Manila anytime soon. In a Viber message he sent to Joanne Rae M. Ramirez, editor-in-chief of PeopleAsia magazine, Romualdez said: “I will be back in DC.”
Romualdez, publisher, president and chief executive officer (on leave) of PeopleAsia, virtually confirmed to Ramirez his reappointment by President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the country’s chief envoy to the US.
According to a news report by CNN Philippines, Romualdez, who was appointed by outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte as the country’s top envoy to Washington nearly six years ago, also dispelled rumors that he was offered by Marcos Jr. to head the Department of Foreign Affairs under his incoming administration.
Romualdez and the president-elect are second cousins.
“To be very honest about it, president-elect Marcos and I had a meeting. He told me he was very pleased with how effective I have been in Washington DC,” Romualdez shared with CNN Philippines’ The Source. “He told me he would like me to continue what I have been doing in Washington, with the relationship we were able to establish there.”
The seasoned envoy also said to CNN that it would be a privilege to serve the country anew as ambassador after his current appointment under the Duterte administration ends on June 30.
Under his watch, Romualdez presided in further strengthening ties between Manila and Washington, including securing for the country a huge number of COVID-19 vaccines during the height of the pandemic and the return from the United States of the historic Balangiga bells of Samar.
He has also consistently been taking up the cudgels for Filipino workers in America, especially the country’s nurses and other healthcare workers, whose concerns and causes remain close to Romualdez’s heart.
Romuladez also told CNN that he sees the continued friendship between the Philippines and the US to bloom even further under President-elect Marcos Jr.’s administration.
Marcos, the first majority elected president, post-EDSA, was proclaimed winner of the May 9 elections last Wednesday, May 25, at the Batasang Pambansa, in the presence of both houses of Congress.
The official canvass of votes by the joint canvassing committee yesterday showed that Marcos Jr. received 31,629,793 votes or more than 58 percent of total ballots cast.
Romualdez, in the same CNN report, also assured Filipinos that the next president will continue the implementation of the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the US.
“He (Marcos Jr.) has spent quite a bit of time in the United States. He’s quite westernized in that sense, he knows what life is in a country like the US, which, obviously, our democratic system is patterned after,” he said.
The same CNN report also noted that days before Marcos Jr.’s proclamation, US President Joe Biden called the presumptive president to congratulate him on his victory, anticipating improved ties and cooperation on different issues, including human rights, the White House said.
