SPEAKER Martin Romualdez on Wednesday night met with his American counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, as part of the Philippine government’s efforts to step up the two countries’ economic partnership and defense cooperation in the face of China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
The two leaders met at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., late Wednesday night (Manila time), shortly before Romualdez flew to Boston to honor an invitation to speak before Harvard University officials, faculty members and students on Philippine-US security cooperation, and regional and domestic peace, stability and economic issues.
“Our meeting proved fruitful as the Philippine delegation managed to impress on Speaker McCarthy the need for the legislative representatives of the two countries to ramp up discussions on how to further boost US-Philippine relations,” Romualdez said in a statement.
Romualdez said the House delegation’s message to US legislators was clear: “The US-Philippine relation is strong, and is reaching new heights and levels of understanding under the administrations of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden. Our defense and security arrangements are solid, and our bilateral strategic partnership is working.”
Romualdez, however, said his team “also pointed out the need to step up bilateral discussions on economic issues to make the benefits of this dynamic relationship more tangible tenfold for our people.”
“We need to strengthen not only our defense cooperation but also our economic partnership,” said Romualdez.
It was the first interaction between the Speakers of the two countries in recent years.
The 59-year-old Romualdez said he and McCarthy, 58, agreed on “improving linkages and communication, synergy, coordination, and sharing of best practices between their institutions.”
“We were thankful that the Speaker shared our ideals and agreed to continue similar discussions in the future,” he said.
The Philippine House leader invited his counterpart and the third highest-ranking US official to visit the Philippines soon and attend the country’s hosting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF).
He said the Philippines under President Marcos “has reintegrated relations with the United States not only to provide peace and stability in our region, but also prosperity for our people.”
Romualdez was joined in the meeting with Speaker McCarthy by deputy speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga, majority leader Jose Manuel Dalipe, and Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez.
The other members of Speaker Romualdez’s delegation are Navotas City Rep. Tobias Tiangco, Agusan del Norte 1st District Rep. Jose Aquino II, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, and House Sergeant-at-Arms Napoleon Taas.
