Kapihan with the Media in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, as everyone has seen, we have put – we just closed today the summit that was chaired – the ASEAN Summit that was chaired by Malaysia, the Chair was Prime Minister Anwar.

And very significantly, on the closing, the gavel was passed on to me, which symbolizes that the Philippines is now going to take on the Chairship of ASEAN, which is an enormous responsibility, but at the same time provides us great opportunities for many, many aspects of our partnership with ASEAN member states and our partnerships with other allies around the world.

And so, that is the way I see it. I look forward to the opportunities and the things that we will be able to do as Chair of ASEAN. And I do believe that what we are aspiring to do is the same as what the aspirations are of the other member states in ASEAN.

So, I am happy that we are given this opportunity. I see it as an opportunity. Of course, it’s a big job. We have to do very many things, not least of which is making arrangements for everyone to come in. But more importantly will be, of course, the setting of the agenda.

And that is the most important opportunity that’s given us. That’s the biggest chance, that’s the biggest privilege that is being given by any Chairship of a group such as ASEAN.

And so, I’m a little, shall we say, overwhelmed by the scale of what it is that we have to do. But that is very well balanced by the number of opportunities that we are being given to move ASEAN forward in the directions that we feel, we, Philippines, feel are the right directions for positioning of the ASEAN and the member states for the future – the brave new world that we are all facing.

Q: Hi, good afternoon. Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Hi, good afternoon.

Q: Mr. President, you made a strong statement in front of world leaders, including the Chinese Premier Li Qiang, condemning the plan to declare Bajo de Masinloc a nature reserve. How did the Chinese Premier react to your remarks?  And was there any consensus or collective response among the leaders as to how to deal with these kinds of actions which clearly violate the international law in the South China Sea?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I would disagree. I did not make a strong statement.

I just laid out the facts. And that is what we do. We – I try always to just explain to everyone what is happening and that this is the situation the Philippines. Never mind anyone else. This is the situation the Philippines finds itself in.

Ito ‘yung nangyayari sa amin. Kaya sana matulungan ninyo kami.

So – and what was… Well, the Premier just – during his time to speak, just said that this is – as far as China is concerned, is within their local law and international law. Of course, we dispute that, but that’s essentially how that diplomatic process works.

Q: Also, I would like to – or we would like to get your reaction, Mr. President, with regards to what the Prime Minister Ibrahim made – the statement that he made in the East Asia Summit when he said that as with all other issues, including the South China Sea issue, it should be resolved within the ASEAN and with its ASEAN partners in the region warning that outside interference could just make things more tense. How does the Philippines view this call and how does the ASEAN collectively interpret it?

Is this seen as a veiled attempt to exclude other key players like US or its allies with regards to these kinds of regional discussions?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I fully agree with Prime Minister Anwar. The lead agency should be ASEAN.

Now, of course, it is a bilateral issue between the Philippines and the People’s Republic. But still, that does not preclude the involvement of ASEAN. And considering that ASEAN has as its members many, many countries that are involved in trade with China that are politically aligned even with China… So, that makes it a stronger base because you’re not just depending on a single ideology or argument or principle.

And we can hear from all the other countries. And that makes it different. That makes it stronger. And that makes it more likely for us to be able to find a way forward, to find a way forward so that we can hopefully resolve the issues. But failing that, at least keeping – finding a way to manage the tensions that we see a rise and fall, rise and fall, with just some level of modus vivendi for all involved.

And that is why we – that is why after I spoke about Bajo de Masinloc and about the nature reserve, I also spoke about what are the possibilities, how we can resolve or how can we work around such issues.

And I continue to find ways to redefine our relationship with China. I really believe that the way forward is to change. Because when you talk about China and the Philippines, all you talk about are the territorial disputes. Well, anybody, I’m not saying the media, everybody that think – the territorial disputes.

And I think, you know there is a huge possibility for trade, for exchanges, for all kinds of discussions and engagements between China and I that do not include these territorial disputes.

So, I would very much like to say, all right, we disagree, we agree to disagree, now let’s do other things, let’s do other things.

And that’s what I will try to achieve in the year of our

Chairship here in ASEAN.

Q: Hi sir, good evening. Good afternoon. Speaking of the job ahead and opportunities ASEAN aspires for the conclusion of COC – of COC negotiations by 2026, just in time for our Chairmanship, how confident are you as the Chair that ASEAN and China will be able to meet that deadline? And could Manila accept the COC that is not legally-binding?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: How do you make a treaty legally-binding? If… I don’t know how that’s supposed to work. If you sign a treaty, you are expected to be bound by it.

I don’t know how – if you would describe it as legally-binding. So, I don’t think that really enters into the discussion.

But how confident am I? Well, earlier I said that at heart I’m an optimist. And that’s really my view and we cannot – we cannot give up. We cannot say that oh there’s no hope and we cannot – nothing’s happening, we cannot move forward, we cannot resolve this thing.

Once we’ve done that, we failed. And we cannot fail because we have to find the way forward we have to find a better way of dealing with these things.

It would be a failure to the duties that we took an oath to – to protect and defend the Philippines and its people.

And so, we just keep trying. If this doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. But we cannot stop. We must continue and continue and continue until we find the solution.

Now, that is not an easy process by no stretch of the imagination is that an easy process. But that’s what the process requires of us and so that is what we will do.

Q: Sir, on that note of optimism, assuming a COC is concluded by 2026, do we aspire for Chinese President Xi Jinping to be in Manila say for the signing of that?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes. Yes, that would not be bad at all. I would – I will certainly invite him. That’s for sure.

I will certainly invite him and I would make all of the efforts available – all of the ways available, the means that we have available to us to show how sincere – to President Xi Jinping how sincere we are that we would like for him to come to the Philippines. And he has been to the Philippines before.

And he knows, he has quite – a few friends here in the Philippines already. But, you know, that would presume that we have made some serious progress in our talks with them.

And so if we get to that point where President Xi will actually consider coming to the Philippines, it would mean that we have made significant progress. And that would be a great thing, that would be just a great thing.

Thank you.

Q:  Hi sir, magandang gabi po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oh, hi.

Q: Sir, various labor groups and business groups expressed their disappointment for slow progress of our fight against corruption. How satisfied are you with the performance of the ICI? And do you think we need the Independent People’s Commission under the Senate Bill 1215  proposed by I think it was Senator Tito Sotto?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. We have to remind people that we have now moved from the political arena to the legal one.

And the legal one, the legal arena has very strictly defined procedures.

I get messages all day, every day: “Ikulong mo na ‘yan!” “Alam naman natin kung sino sila, ikulong mo na.” “Kunin mo lahat ang pera nila.” “Ipagbenta mo na ‘yung mga bahay nila, ibalik sa ano…”

What would then I be accused of if we did that? Secondly, if basta-basta lang tayo nagsasabi hindi maganda ang ebidensiya, basta kasuhan mo na.

Eh, kung nanalo, kung ma-acquit, dahil hindi maganda ang pagkahanda ng kaso? Technicality. Nagka-technicality?

Can you imagine these people who have stolen billions from the government and from the people, nakawala dahil hindi maganda ang pagka-handle ng ebidensiya?

That would be much worse result. So, due process must be observed. We must make sure na alam – alam naman talaga natin kung sino sila. Kaya tiyakin natin na makukulong talaga sila at ang kanilang mga ninakaw ay ibalik sa gobyerno, ibalik sa tao.

But just be – ‘yung nagmamadali? Iyong hindi maaari ‘yan. Delikado tayo. Kaya natin sabihin – sabihin ko sa pulis, dakipin ninyo na ‘yan. Basta ikulong ninyo, bahala na.

Anong mangyayari doon? Sira ‘yung kaso natin. And you cannot charge them again. There is the principle of double jeopardy in the law.

So, what is more important that we just file cases, basta sige lang.

Remember, nobody has gone to court yet. There’s no conviction yet. And the court, marami pang… What is the process pagka binigyan ‘yung… May complainant sa Ombudsman, sa DOJ, may preliminary investigation pa. Magbubuo ng imbestigasyon. Kailangan matibay-tibay ‘yung ebidensiya kasi kung hindi matibay ‘yung ebidensiya, makakawala ‘yung – maa-acquit ‘yun.

Kaya tiyakin natin na matibay ‘yung ebidensiya. Hindi madaling gawin ‘yun. Dahil ‘yung iba, ‘yung mga witness, ‘yung ating mga resource persons hindi nagsasabi ng totoo, may mga tinatago, et cetera, et cetera.

Kailangan ma-extract ‘yun sa kanila, ‘yung impormasyon na ‘yun para gawing ebidensiya para madala sa kung saan man, sa Sandigan, sa Ombudsman, ito na, ito na ‘yung kaso at malalaman natin na tiyak na makita natin na ‘yung talagang alam natin na gumawa ng katiwalian, na nagnakaw talaga sa gobyerno ay magbabayad and magbabayad for… They will pay for it with their liberty and they will pay for it with treasure that they have taken away from government.

I think it’s more important that we get one chance at this. Isa lang ang chance natin. We cannot waste that opportunity to bring justice to those people – to bring those people to justice and to bring justice to the Filipino people.

So, do you want to get it done quickly or do you want to get it done right? That’s the choice that we have. So, I understand the frustration because we do have a very good idea about who these people are. But you have to take them to court. You have to present evidence. They have to be convicted.

And as I’m sure anyone who has been involved in any kind of legal proceeding we are all very frustrated, especially non-lawyers are very frustrated by how long it takes.

Ang sagot naman ng mga abogado sa atin is that may kasabihan sa kanila: the law grinds very slowly but it grinds very well. So, we are counting on that.

Q: Sir, just a quick follow up. What do you think of the plans of ICI – ?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: The wheels of justice grind slowly but they grind very well.

Q: Sir, what do you think of the plan of ICI to livestream their investigation? How will it affect the credibility of the process?

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  I don’t think it has an effect on the credibility of the process.

I think it’s a practical matter, really because if… The problem that the ICI has right now and when it comes to the issue of livestreaming and other issues is hindi pa na bubuo ‘yung kanilang rules. So, we don’t…

They still have to finalize those so that we have a clear understanding of what is the best way to proceed.

Will livestreaming help, will it not? So, we will just have to wait for the ICI to make that decision for themselves.

I really – I have an opinion, of course, but talagang ang gusto kong makita ng tao, hindi ako nakikialam – the executive, the government, hindi nakikialam diyan.

We provide them a budget and we allow them to run everything the way they want, to hire the people that they want. And ‘yung mga substantial matters ay nasa sa kanila ‘yun.

Talagang nirerespeto namin ‘yung unang “I”, “Independent”, Independent Commission on Infrastructure.

Let us make sure – we are making sure that they are truly independent. So, those decisions have to be left to them.

Q: Sir, with the world’s attention on the Philippines as the ASEAN Chair, how do you respond to the concerns that domestic corruption issues can overshadow the country’s leadership in the regional side, sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: We do not allow those local political issues of any member state to intrude into what we are trying to do. That’s my experience so far.

Hindi kami nakikialam sa ibang bansa. We talk about ASEAN. And whatever is happening in other countries who belong to ASEAN, it doesn’t really enter into our conversation. It does not make a difference to the directions that we would like to take, the initiatives that we would like to make.

So, hindi siguro… In my experience so far kasi alam naman natin ‘yung mga ibang bansa – wala pa naman tayo – hindi pa naman tayo Chair, may kaunting gulo doon sa kanila, may pumutok sa isyu sa kanila pero hindi pumapasok sa usapan.

Pagka nasa Plenary na kami pinag-uusapan namin ano ‘yung gagawin natin sabay-sabay. Because it doesn’t matter for the decision-making of ASEAN… No, I’ll put it — turn it around.

The only thing that matters to the decision-making process in ASEAN is what each member is willing to do and agrees to do. They agree on the concept, this is what – dito tayo ano, lalapit tayo dito sa bansang ito, whatever it is.

Or we’ll open up a center for cultural exchange. Kung sumang-ayon lahat, sumang-ayon lahat. Walang kinalaman kung ano ‘yung sitwasyon nila doon sa local.

Q: Follow up, sir. Sir, are you sharing these values of combating corruption to the member state of the ASEAN?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Of? Sharing the — ?

Q: Sharing these values and principles, your move to fight corruption, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: To?

Q: To the members of the ASEAN?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: What will I propose to the members of the ASEAN?

Q: These values of combating corruption, sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: We all want to combat corruption. I’m not there… Hindi ko… Even if you’re the Chair, hindi mo inuutusan itong mga ito. These are presidents and prime ministers and one king, a sultan.

So, it’s not in our – we have no place to tell them that this is what you should do, this is what you should not do.

Maybe the most you can say is that I believe ASEAN should head in this direction. Do you agree? We don’t agree. Why not? Maybe we can work around it. That’s how the process go.

Can you imagine if we started telling them what to do?
Wala na sira na ‘yung buong… Sira na ‘yung buong proseso.

Q: Hi, sir. Good afternoon po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.

Q: Sir, I have three in one question, sir. Mr. President, following the turnover of the Chairmanship for the 2026 ASEAN Summit, how prepared, sir, is the Philippines to actually host this major international event next year, and what key challenges do we foresee in the lead up to 2026, and how does your administration plan to address them to ensure a successful summit, sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, in terms of physical, logistical preparation, we are prepared.

Because I had the con… Very early on in the Chairship of Malaysia, I spoke already to Premier Anwar and I asked him: “How is it going?” And he said, “You know this is what we’re having to do and these are the things that we are having to arrange. It’s a big…”

And so immediately I said, “We’re next, we have to start preparing.”

So, we have been preparing for it for about what? Eight months now? Since nag-usap kami ni Anwar, sabi ko, “Wow, malaking bagay pala ito. Ang dami palang kailangang gawin.”

So, pinaghahandaan na talaga namin. So, ‘yan, we are prepared.

We are now in the process of putting together the different elements of where we think ASEAN should be focusing. So one of the things is the COC, for example. Number one para sa atin.

The other member states, that’s not as a big priority to them as it is to us. So, this is our chance to really promote that and to highlight that, and hopefully we will succeed.

So, it is… You have to lead. What we are doing… When you are the Chair of ASEAN, you lead. And that is what we are ready to do that because we have a very, very good idea of what the elements are that we feel need to be part of the discussions of ASEAN during our Chairship.

Thank you.

Q: Good evening, Mr. President. In relation to the acceptance of the Chairmanship, I would like to ask there’s a report that ASEAN is not sending observers to Myanmar’s upcoming election. Is this confirmed, sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: No. Pinag-uusapan talaga namin ‘yun, masinsinan naming pinag-usapan ‘yan.

And I think what’s happened is ASEAN is leaving it to each country to decide on their own. ASEAN will not take a common position. Because in our discussions, everyone has a different idea.

So, we will have to decide for the Philippines what it is that we think we should do. We will watch other countries to see what they should do.

I still believe that we will come to a consensus as to what to do by December 28 when the election is scheduled.

I’m definitely going to be calling around and saying, “Ano bang sa palagay ninyo ang dapat gawin natin?”

Because it would be much preferable if ASEAN moves as one. So, that’s what I will try now, starting from now because it’s already – ang schedule December 28 na eh. So, we have to come to a decision as to what it is that we are going to do.

There are differences in opinion on the different members, but the differences are not enormous. I think that if we talk about it some more, we will find a common ground as to what to do.

What that is, I cannot predict.

Q: In the event that that there is no consensus – ?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: In the event that — ?

Q: In the event that there is no consensus from ASEAN members — ?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Then the Philippines will move by itself. Then we will agree to disagree. But that’s how ASEAN works. You make up your own mind.

If we would like to bring you into the majority, for example, then we will. We continue to talk about it and we continue to talk about it.

And as I said, I think all the member states, all the leaders of the member states, understand that it would be much, much better if ASEAN took a common position and moved as one. That’s what I would be advocating for.

Q: Good evening, sir. On social media, content creators have profiled each ASEAN country and they considered the Philippines as the “chill dude” due to its hospitable aura and ability to maintain strong friendships and openness with other countries not just the region. What is your reaction to this and do you agree with this assessment?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, I do actually. But you know, it’s a – walang pressure. We are held to a certain standard. But that’s the same with every Chairship that happens.

I’m glad that ang starting point natin, ang tingin sa Pilipino ay ‘yun na nga “chill” at madaling kausap. That’s a big help pagka you’re trying to find consensus.

So yes, I agree. Sa palagay ko naman totoo din naman na talagang ganoon ang Pinoy. Magaan ang ugali ng Pinoy talaga. And that is to our advantage, that is to our advantage.

And we will present always the best possible side so that we are met with the most possible successes. That’s something that we can put in our pocket and say, advantage natin ito. Mayroon tayong ano…

I don’t know that we are more hospitable or more chill than the other countries. But to be seen that way is already an advantage.

Q: Sir, now that we are chairing the ASEAN next year, what would the image that the Philippines under your and the ASEAN would like to project in 2026?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Chill and hospitable. [laughter]

Q: Thank you so much.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Thank you.

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