PRESIDENT MARCOS: Magandang tanghali, everyone.
We just finished our business meetings with the different… Well, first, with — katatapos lang namin with some of the energy companies that are involved here in Brunei para baka matulungan tayo sa problema natin.
And earlier, we had a business forum where we invited once again, just what we always do in these trips para makapag — it’s like a roadshow that we are explaining the state of the economy of the Philippines and the plans for the future.
Yesterday was the state part of the state visit where we were entertained by His Majesty, the Sultan of Brunei and his officials and the royal family which just brought — which just reminded us of how close we have always been our two countries — how close our two countries have always been and I think continue to be.
So, we signed the MOUs as I’m sure you know which are very significant. One of the most significant parts is really the diplomatic — on the diplomatic agreement between Brunei and the Philippines as to the resolution of conflicts and a mechanism between — a bilateral mechanism for us to have that line of communication so that there is very little room for misunderstanding or a mistake or the kinds of things that can cause problems between countries. That’s basically what’s been happening so far. Yeah, I can open the floor.
Q: Mr. President, magandang tanghali po.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon. Magandang tanghali.
Q: How much investment commitments were you able to secure on this Brunei trip? And secondly, and out of those commitments, how many Filipino workers would benefit from it?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, we haven’t really — we haven’t made that list yet. We’ll provide it as we usually do because we just finished our last two meetings an hour and… Now, I just came directly from there. So, we will have to crunch some numbers and see exactly what it is.
It’s not that simple because it’s not — many of the companies that we talked to are already in the Philippines. So, it’s really the — they also have to… They have not necessarily themselves decided how — what level their expansion will be. So, it’s hard to say how many jobs will that bring.
But I think as discussions will go on, those details will be — will come out and will — we will be able to make a better — more accurate assessment in terms of jobs. But it’s tens of thousands. It’s tens of thousands of jobs. It’s not a small number.
Q: Mr. President, about your bilateral meeting with Sultan Bolkiah, did you discuss defense cooperation?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Discussed different?
Q: Defense cooperation.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Not as such with because… We talked about maritime cooperation. We talked about strengthening the partnerships and making — and streamlining the processes in BIMP-EAGA. It really was more about trade.
On the diplomatic side, the closest we came to any kind of a defense agreement was really a diplomatic — just expressed an understanding, a diplomatic document that express the understanding that we both endorse a peaceful resolution to any conflicts between our two countries and in the region. Ganun lang ka-simple.
Q: Hello. Good afternoon po.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: Your Excellency, Mr. President, for our question po is there are some OFWs, they have been away from the Philippines for quite some time, for a very long time, and they may not have anyone or anywhere to return to and with limited options in their current livelihood po. So, our question po is that, is there or would there be any retirement program to accommodate for OFWs in need?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: That’s actually — that’s been going on for a while. It really was born in the time of the pandemic when many of our OFWs were sent home for health reasons, for safety, health and safety reasons.
And we had to — we could not just send them back into their… You’re familiar with the situation that happened. We had to find jobs for the OFWs that had come back. And so, they were initiated like TUPAD. The TUPAD project is a program specifically for that. It is for workers who have lost their jobs for whatever reason, or would like to transfer.
So, that’s why we have increased the retraining, ‘yung lagi nating naririnig, upskilling and reskilling of our OFWs.
And, not only our OFWs, our working population in the Philippines. And TESDA, that’s why TESDA has suddenly grown.
And we have put a bigger budget to it so that we are able to absorb those who would still like to work, hindi naman ‘yung nag-retire, ‘yung for whatever reason, natapos ‘yung kontrata o ‘yun nagka-lockdown o nagkagiyera, ‘yung mga nangyari sa Middle East noong Arab Spring.
So, they had to come home. And so, we provide support to them. We provide outright support in the meantime and at the same time there are livelihood programs that are available to them, both under the department — DOLE and TESDA.
And there are many. May mga joint programs with private industry. Halimbawa, there are schools that have been… The maritime is one of the best examples. They are working very closely with industry. Kasi usually pagka technical, kailangan very specific ‘yung training nung tao para tapos… Ang maganda doon, mayroon na siya — may trabaho siya kaagad dahil ‘yun ang hinahanap ng kumpanya na private corporation.
So, you know, I’ve almost — also tried very hard to strengthen the side of the employment side, because marami na tayong nakitang livelihood program, nagkaron nga ng livelihood program, natuto ‘yung tao ng bagong skill pero walang trabaho, wala pa rin trabaho.
And the point of the exercise is magkatrabaho.
So, kailangan may placement na doon sa kabila and that’s where in this private — the private sector comes in. They will tell you this is what we need.
As a matter of fact, we will do the training, para makatiyak kami but we have to be in partnership with government. And government naman provides incentives, provides better opportunities for our workers so that they learn new skills and that are relevant to the modern — this post-pandemic economy.
Q: Hi, Mr. President. Magandang hapon po. Sir, you will be the first Philippine President to speak at the Shangri-la Dialogue. So, my question is that, how significant is this in crafting policies on defense and security and in pushing our rights in the West Philippine Sea?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oh, I think it’s highly significant. The invitation in itself is highly significant. The fact that they asked the Philippine President to come and speak on that very subject is significant in the sense that it is a recognition that there are challenges that are facing the Philippines, specifically.
And not only the Philippines, but this affects the region and it affects the world. So, what I will present in the Shangri-la forum day after tomorrow is going to essentially try to explain the position of the Philippines for both legally and geopolitically and diplomatically. And how we see the ways forward for the Philippines and for the region.
Dati, pinag-uusapan lang Asia Pacific pero ang West Philippine Sea ay napakahalaga niyan. It’s so important to international trade that we can actually say that the stakeholders — the stakeholders are no longer limited to ASEAN, Asia, Indo-Pacific. It really involves the global economy already and so that is why I think the Philippines’ position is going to be important in the decision-making of many of the policymakers around the world.
Q: Thank you, sir.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Thank you.
Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: May I just get your reaction on China’s four-month fishing ban in the South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea which is a source of livelihood for local fishermen?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, it’s just an extension again of their claim that this is all the maritime territory of China. So, it is just — it is nothing new. There are sometimes — there are fishing bans because they are — because it’s the season. And this is something that we have actually agreed upon before. But the new policy of threatening to detain our own citizens, that is different. That is an escalation of the situation. So, yes, it is now very worrisome.
Q: Good afternoon, sir.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: Sir, what will it take for China and the Philippine diplomatic relations to resolve differences in Ayungin Shoal and Scarborough Shoal? Are there any meetings or backchannel efforts to resolve or to at least forge some sort of a middle ground with China?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, of course, there are. I’ve said it many times. You should try everything. You don’t know what effort is going to be successful.
So, as any point of contact that I can establish I will use it, and at every level, at the leaders’ level, at the ministerial, sub-ministerial, private as long as it gives us, brings us progress in terms of resolving these — and you know, first of all to — number one, to stop the aggressive actions such as water-cannoning and lasers and barrier putting et cetera.
And secondly, allowing our fishermen to fish. Let’s start with that.
And if we can get to that, then we can move to the next step and to see if there is a way to resolve all these claims and so that we can all go about our business in a peaceful way and continue to try and develop our countries. There are always, always efforts at every level.
Q: If I may just ask for follow-up. What do you intend to achieve in forming mini multilateral alliances and alliances with smaller states to help us with our…?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, it’s… Tagalugin natin, marami tayong kakampi. Ganun lang kasimple. So, imbes na boses lamang ng Pilipinas, boses ng marami. And that’s always important.
Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: Sir, may we just get your reaction on the statement of former Senator — Senate President Zubiri that he was removed from power over alleged failure to follow instructions from the powers that be?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: I know. I was… I guess if you’re Senate President, the only power that be is the President.
So, I’m not sure what he is referring to. If that is a specific instance or just as a general principle. I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him about it. The last time I spoke to him we talked about the procurement law. This didn’t come up.
So, it’s hard for me to answer, simply because I’m not quite sure what he’s referring to because — what instructions could there be that hindi niya natapos. Yes, that’s still unclear to me what he was referring to.
Q: Sir, quick follow-up lang po. Kailan niyo po nalaman ‘yung change sa Senate leadership and may plano po ba kayong makipag-meet or makipag-usap kay Senator Zubiri?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: When did I know? The minute they started… The minute the…
Actually, it was Senator Chiz, at the minute he started thinking about it he already brought it up and he said: “I think I’m going to try to be the SP. What’s my situation? What do you think?”
And I did not speak to any parties at endpoint, simply because I was out of town. If you remember on that day — ‘yung nabalita ‘yung… Noong umaga, I was asked if I would issue a statement on the change of leadership and I said, “Bakit? Nag-change na ba?” Sabi nila, “Well, mayroong gumagalaw.”
And when I landed back in Manila at about three or four in the afternoon saka lang nalaman — tapos na. Nag-change na. Nag-step down na si Senator Migz.
So, that’s the extent — that‘s how… I was basically informed at every step of the way but it moves so quickly as well.
But I — of course, we knew the state of the voting. When that was still being collected, the votes were still being collected by Senator Chiz.
Alam na namin kung ano ‘yung lalabas na numero. So, to that extent we were well-informed about what was happening.
Q: Sir, last question na po. Sir, kasi na-interview po si Senator Zubiri and he refused to answer when asked if you still trust him. So, may tiwala pa po ba kayo kay Senator Zubiri?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Sure. Of course.
The decision to change the leadership is not made by me. It was made by the senators. So, that does not reflect on my view on Senator Migz and the trust and confidence that — in my view were — that I have in him.
Q: Thank you po, sir.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. Thank you.
All right. Maraming salamat. Thank you.
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