The Manila Times

‘BBM made good impression at APEC’

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FORMER president now Pampanga Second District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo believes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made a “good impression” in his first participat­ion at the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperatio­n (APEC) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

In a statement on Sunday, Malacañang said Arroyo was satisfied with Marcos’ performanc­e speaking before more than half of the world’s economies.

“He certainly made a very good impression on the leaders of the very important economies. And not only the very important economies but also the great economic thinkers of the world,” Arroyo was quoted as saying.

Marcos earlier described Arroyo as his “secret weapon” during his meeting with the Filipino community in Thailand on Saturday.

He personally invited Arroyo to accompany him during the APEC Summit, noting that her experience­s and insights were valuable.

“Sinasabi kong secret weapon dahil ako ‘yung baguhan dito eh. Ako ‘yung bagong naging lider. Kaya’t ‘pag papasok kami sa meeting, noong nakita si GMA (I say secret weapon because I’m the newbie. I’m the new leader. That’s why when we started the meeting and they’d see GMA, they’d say), ‘Ah my good friend! My good friend!’ Oh madali na kaagad ‘yung usapan (Then it would be easy to start talking to them),” he said.

Highly successful

Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople described Marcos’ first APEC as “highly successful.”

She said he developed a good rapport with other economic leaders, particular­ly Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, describing their exchanges as “very relaxed, very uplifting.”

“Makikita mo na both sides excited mag-engage, and lalo na noong nakausap na niya ‘yung Crown Prince, si His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman o MBS kung tawagin siya sa Saudi Arabia (You could see that both sides were excited to engage, especially when he spoke to the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia),” Ople said.

Marcos and the Crown Prince had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit.

“Makikita mo pag-upo pa lang nila parang magkaibiga­n na nagkatagpo, nagkuwentu­han, parehong forward-looking, parehong visionary, at parehong proud sa mga Pilipino. Parang ‘yun din ‘yung kanilang naging common ground (The moment they sat down they seemed like friends who have reunited, telling stories, both forwardloo­king, both visionarie­s and both proud of Filipinos. That was their common ground),” Ople added.

During the bilateral meeting between the two leaders, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia committed to shoulder the unpaid wages of around 10,000 Filipino workers who were displaced from constructi­on companies that went bankrupt.

Marcos said there was also an assurance from the Saudi Ministry of Labor that there will be no more unpaid salaries among Filipinos in the Middle Eastern country.

The two leaders also talked about energy and petroleum amid the prevailing oil crisis.

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