PRESS Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles confirmed Monday morning, October 3, 2022, the visit of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to Singapore over the weekend.
In a Facebook post, Angeles said Marcos’ visit to Singapore, where he also held a state visit from September 6 to 7, has been productive.
“Naging produktibo ang pagdalaw sa Singapore ni Pangulong Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.,” she said.
“Pinagpatibay niya ang mga pangunahing usapan sa huling state visit sa bayan na ito, at pinatuloy ang paghihikayat sa pag invest sa bayang Pilipinas,” she added.
Angeles attached to her post the screenshot of Singapore Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng’s post where he said that he met Marcos, along with other heads of states, ministries and foreign dignitaries “to affirm our bilateral economic relationships and strengthen collaborations in energy cooperation as well as exchange views on manpower policies on the sidelines of the race.”
Leng was referring to the F1 Grand Prix, a car racing event held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit from September 30 to October 2.
Prior to Angeles’ statement, several groups criticized Marcos for going to Singapore along with his son Ilocos Norte First District Representative Ferdinand Alexander Marcos and his cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, to watch the racing event.
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said Marcos’ trip was “insensitive, unnecessary and irresponsible” considering the crisis faced by the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the onslaught of Super Typhoon Karding.
“We are in the middle of an economic crisis where inflation will again reach record highs, public debt has breached P13 trillion, and millions of Filipinos are reeling from the effects of Typhoon Karding,” he said.
“So why does the President think it’s okay to take a private jet to Singapore to watch the return of the F1 Grand Prix? How much are the Filipino taxpayers paying for this trip?” he added.
Reyes slammed the Malacañang’s belated statement on Marcos’ “weekend getaway,” noting that this may mean that they are either clueless as to the nature of the trip or they were trying to hide the actual details.
He said this also showed the disarray at the Malacañang.
“We would like to remind Malacanang that anything that involves public funds and resources requires transparency. We saw none of that last weekend,” Reyes said. (SunStar Philippines)