After his recent trip to Australia (seen here with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese), President Ferdinand Marcos Jt. is bound for Germany and the Czech Republic from March 11 to 15 for an official visit. (File photo from Agence France-Presse)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s foreign trips are not a waste of government funds, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said on Friday.
“No, it is not. These trips are all in support of the President’s development agenda for the wellbeing of our country and the progress of the Filipinos,” DFA-Office of European Affairs Assistant Secretary Maria Elena Algabre said, partly in Filipino, when asked about the public sentiment that the president’s trips were a waste of government funds.
Marcos is bound for Germany and the Czech Republic from March 11 to 15 for an official visit, just fresh from his back-to-back trip to Australia during the first week of March.
READ: Marcos leaving for Germany, Czech Republic next week
“For Germany and the Czech Republic, the visit will focus, as we have said earlier, on strengthening partnerships with like-minded countries in Europe, especially the promotion of a rules-based international order,” Algabre said.
“We will also wish to expand economic cooperation with Germany to explore other avenues of cooperation and the same with the Czech Republic. For both, we will enhance labor cooperation,” she added.
Marcos has been to three countries so far in 2024. In January, he went to Brunei for the royal wedding of Prince Abdul Mateen, son of son of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. During the same month, he went to Vietnam for a state visit.