MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has brushed off the latest statement of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, that his multiple overseas trips are for leisure.
Speaking to the Filipino media in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday night, the Chief Executive showed his tight schedule to prove that he has no time for leisure during foreign trips.
“’Ito ang schedule ko oh. Saan ‘yung pasyal?” President Marcos said. “It’s my schedule for today. Where’s the…wala. You know, kasama ko...we don’t make pasyal (in my foreign trips).”
“Even in the places that I spent a lot of times with, ‘di ko napupuntahan ‘yung mga dati kong pinupuntahan because we’re here to do this,” he added, pertaining to his work as a President.
Former President Duterte, during a rally held at Liwasang Bonifacio on Tuesday, has criticized Marcos for his penchant of leaving for various countries with his wife and their delegation.
President Marcos, however, said that his working visit to Germany was productive economically and politically, and he also had a very good conversation with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“It’s very productive, both for the economic side and on the political side,” President Marcos said. “And also, for what we the call people-to-people.”
“”We talked (with Scholz), from what we spoke about in the bilateral meeting lunch, we also talked about some many other issues that concern both our countries because what is happening for example in Ukraine,” he added.
Marcos also said he had his productive discussions with German companies such as Bosch, Siemens, Airbus, and Lufthansa Technik, which have expressed their plans for the Philippines.
“It’s encouraging… All of these different entities seemed to be confident in the Philippines economic condition,” Marcos said. “And that is manifested by the fact that they are preparing to invest further and whatever.”/PN
