Two trips left for Bongbong Marcos and his travel bug

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who has admitted to having the travel bug, has two more official trips abroad before the year ends as he is scheduled to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Thailand this week and the Asean-EU Summit in Belgium in December.

Since he assumed office on June 30 this year, the President has embarked on five official trips abroad, including his trip to Singapore in October to watch the much-anticipated return of the F1 Grand Prix, which Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said was “partly official, partly personal.”

Thus, by the end of his first six months in office, the President would have embarked on seven official trips abroad by the end of 2022.

On his way to Cambodia where he is now attending meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the President admitted to journalists during the flight that he had the travel bug: “I’m sure I’ll try everything that I can because it’s my first time in Cambodia. I’ve never been to Phnom Penh. So yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I like to travel anyway. So I always end up trying everything.”For this first foreign trips as President, Mr. Marcos went on a state visit to Indonesia on Sept. 4 to Sept. 6 then proceeded to Singapore also for a state visit from Sept. 6 to Sept. 7.

The trip supposedly resulted in $14.36 billion, or P804.78 billion, in investment pledges from Indonesia and Singapore, which are expected to help the country’s economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also participated in the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York and had a six-day working visit in the United States from Sept 19 to Sept. 24.He returned home with $3.9 billion in business agreements and commitments, which is expected to generate 112,285 jobs.

After his trip to the United States, he returned to Singapore for a “partly official, partly personal” weekend with first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and his legislator-son Sandro, who was later photographed with actress Alexa Miro at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, on Oct. 4.

Critics pounced on the President’s October trip to Singapore and the Marcos family was criticized for having a weekend getaway what with the rising cost of living. INQ

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