Palace on Pinoys' trust in China: More time needed before becoming BFF

Published March 02, 2018 07:50 PM By VIRGIL LOPEZ,GMA News

Malacañang on Friday said it is up to China whether it want to further improve ties with the Philippines following a poll showing that more Filipinos trust the United States and Japan.

At a press briefing in Tarlac, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque weighed in on the December 2017 Social Weather Stations survey where China received a neutral +7 rating, up 20 points from the -13 rating it got last September.

Roque said Manila only started its “very close relationship” with Beijing under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has put aside maritime disputes with China, looking to it to play a key role in building and funding urgently needed infrastructure.

“Pero bago lang po ang pagkakaibigan, siyempre, kinakailangan ng panahon bago tayo maging BFF (best friends forever),” he said.

The Palace official also left to China to prove itself to be a “trustworthy” ally of the Philippines.

“Kung bibigyan nila ng katuparan ang kanilang mga pangako, kung hindi tayo magkakagulo dahil sa West Philippine Sea, kung sila’y tutupad sa kanilang pangako na hindi na sila magkakaroon ng mga bagong reklamasyon at bagong mga artificial islands, ang Pilipino ay nasa anyo naman natin na mas nais nating maging kaibigan kaysa maging kaaway,” he said.

“So like all relationships, this is a two-sided relationship. We want to trust China, but China must also prove herself to be trustworthy,” Roque said.

Roque expressed no surprise with the results showing Filipinos trust the United States and Japan the most because these two countries are traditional allies of the Philippines.

“It’s only proper that our people have trusted them because of our long and established relationship,” Roque said. —JST, GMA News

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