MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday welcomed United States (US) Senator Tammy Duckworth in a courtesy call at the President’s Hall in Malacañan Palace, where they discussed the possibility of the Philippines manufacturing electronic vehicle batteries for the American market.
According to the Palace, Duckworth mentioned to Marcos a conversation she had with Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.
“We’ve discussed at length about electronic vehicle batteries and we can’t get enough of them to meet the American market. And I can’t think of a better place to create a new manufacturing ecosystem for the American market than here in the Philippines where we can work together to supply that market so that we can continue to make our switch to renewables as well. And there are many other places where we can work together,” Duckworth told Marcos.
Duckworth told Marcos that she preferred American manufacturing supply chains to be in the hands of allies.
In return, Marcos told the US senator that the Philippines has great potential for manufacturing batteries.
“We have nickel, we have bauxite, we have cobalt. And so, the idea of manufacturing has shown more and more potential, the more we study it,” Marcos said.
“We will have a demand locally for these batteries but not just for the local demand but also for sale to other countries and for other markets. That is certainly something that we have been pushing very hard for in terms of developing the capabilities,” he added.
Marcos emphasized that the US and the Philippines has a long-standing relationship.
“I think we must continue to promote and to hopefully make even stronger and deeper and especially with the volatility that we are observing in geopolitics, especially in our region, but not limited to our region but all over the world, is something that we need to find new responses for and to take new positions for,” Marcos said.