Romualdez cites PHL gains in PBBM’s US visit

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

EVs and SMR deals

EARLIER on Monday, Marcos witnessed the historic signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. of the Ayala Group and California-based Zero Motorcycles on a partnership to manufacture electric motorcycles in the Philippines.

L ikewise, top nuclear energy firm NuScale Power Corporation expressed interest to invest in the Philippines after a meeting with Marcos in Washington D.C., and bared plans for a study to locate an appropriate site in the country for its Small Modular Reactor, a compact yet proven safe nuclear power plant.

standing security alliance between the two countries.

According to the joint statement of the two leaders, Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad alliance commitments to the Philippines, underscoring that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, would invoke the US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

summit in the White House between Biden and Marcos, in which the American Chief Executive reaffirmed Washington’s ‘ironclad alliance commitments’ with Manila, would “lead soon enough to a final agreement on the Philippines’ joint patrols not only with the US but with our other allies as well such as Japan and Australia” in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) amid the increasingly aggressive intrusions of Chinese vessels into our territorial waters.

commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty ]MDT].”

Villafuerte noted that the ongoing talks on joint maritime patrols are in sync with the two President’s unwavering commitment, as they declared jointly after their White House meeting, to “freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and the importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their EEZ consistent with international law.”

On the second day of his five-day official visit to Washington, D.C., Romualdez said President Marcos met with President Biden at the White House, where they resolved to draw on the strength of the enduring partnership between the two countries to promote economic growth and prosperity in the US, the Philippines, and the broader Indo-Pacific region.

A mong others, President Biden said he would dispatch a Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines on his behalf as he also committed to step up America’s support in a wide range of issues, including climate change mitigation and the economy.

This high-level trade and investment mission from the US will add more momentum to sustain our country’s economic growth and help establish the Philippines as a hub for investments and as a regional supply chain hub,” Romualdez said.

Such bilateral economic engagement with the US will not only generate more jobs and business opportunities for our people but, more importantly, it would focus on sectors critical to ensuring a resilient supply chain to avert the recurrence of serious disruptions that wreaked havoc in the economies of many countries in the past few years,” he added. Romualdez noted that prior to the meeting between the two leaders at the Oval Office, President Marcos led the Philippine delegation in sealing new trade and investment deals with private firms, as well as cooperation agreements with the US government.

In addition, the Philippines and the United States have agreed to set up a ministerial team on agricultural cooperation during a meeting between President Marcos and US Department of Agriculture officials led by Secretary Thomas Vilsack. US agriculture technology will be of immense value in helping us not only enhance the productivity of our agricultural sectors but also in combating the ill effects of climate change, particularly now that we are facing the threat of the El Niño phenomenon,” said Romualdez, who accompanied President Marcos and other members of the Philippine delegation during the meetings with US business and government leaders.

A part from the country’s gains in the area of economy, Romualdez said the Marcos-Biden meeting also served to bolster the long-

T hey also noted that the identification of new sites pursuant to the US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) would strengthen Philippine security and support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization goals, drive US investment to local communities across the Philippines and improve their shared ability to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

M arcos and Biden underscored their “unwavering commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and the importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their exclusive economic zones consistent with international law.”

T hey also expressed support for the right and ability of Filipino fisherfolk to pursue their traditional livelihoods.

‘Ironclad commitment’ CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte is hoping the just-concluded

Villafuerte said the quick start of such joint maritime patrols in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) being contested by China, has taken on greater urgency with what Filipino authorities have lately blasted as the “aggressive tactics” and “dangerous maneuvers” of Chinese vessels in the WPS.

For Villafuerte, Manila needs to double down on plans for joint maritime patrols with the US and other allies in the hope of finally putting a stop to the relentless intrusions by China into Philippine territory and its EEZ.

H e said Marcos’ summit with Biden augurs well for the firming up of such a joint border security patrol agreement among allies, as both Presidents affirmed that their two countries will remain “the closest of allies,” and Mr. Biden underscored that “an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense

Both leaders had also pointed in their summit, he said, to the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in the Netherlands that the WPS is part of Philippine territory and its EEZ, in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“

With Beijing ignoring time and again the hundreds of diplomatic protests that have been filed by Manila over the nonstop intrusions of Chinese vessels into the WPS, I believe the best approach we can take at this point to put an end to such bullying tactics is for us to double down on plans for joint patrols in the disputed waterway with the US and other allies like Japan and Australia that seem open to such a border security arrangement,” Villafuerte said.

More than 200 diplomatic protests have reportedly been lodged by Manila against Beijing in recent years, about a third of which on the Marcos watch.