Marcos: No sector that wasn't touched by PH-US partnership

WASHINGTON — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said there is no sector that was not touched by the partnership between the Philippines and the United States.

During a meeting with the United States-Philippines Society, Marcos said he was pleased with the significant progress both Manila and Washington have made towards strengthening security alliance.

"Yes now, prominent are the security defense issues, but if you look at what do we do in partnership, in coordination with the United States, and there’s no part of—there’s no sector that isn’t touched by that partnership,” he said.

The President said the strengthening and deepening of relations between the two countries has been "a big step forward with all the developments that have been happening."

“It has been terribly useful for us to talk about redefining our Mutual Defense Treaty and this, I think, has given us the opportunity to layout as you say that roadmap for the economy and for another big issue in the Philippines – climate change and all the other big issues,” he said.

The USPS vowed for greater cooperation and partnership in the development and economy of the Philippines. It is a non-profit, bi-national organization of prominent civic and business leaders of the US and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Marcos also highlighted the role the private sector plays in economic development as he "hopes to see more engagements involving both the government and the private sector, especially in mobilizing financial resources for investments in key areas."

Top IBM executive Michael DiPaula Coyle said they are “very, very bullish” on the Philippine economy and looks forward to working with the government to invest in digitalization.

“We’re also very heavily invested in helping grow your talent pool through skills development programs, we’ve had a number of partnerships with the US government with your government to improve skills development particularly in areas like… AI and cybersecurity where I think the Philippines has an enormous opportunity to position yourselves as very competitive economy particularly in the IT services sector,” Coyle said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News