Kerry’s Phl visit postponed

B N S B - N US State Secretary ohn erry yesterday called off his planned visit to the Philippines due to an approaching typhoon.

erry and Foreign ffairs Secretary lbert del osario ointly announced the postponement of the visit on the sidelines of the rd ssociation of Southeast sian Nations summit here, adding that President uino had been informed about it.

erry said the US ir Force advised him to postpone the visit. e expressed his wish for the safety of Filipinos as

a typhoon heads to anila.

erry was scheduled to meet with Philippine officials today and tomorrow.

“The strength of our relationship, the bilateral ties that we have that are literally unbreakable and my own personal connections to the Philippines is the reason why I was enormously looking forward to going back,” he said.

“I’m sorry not to be there in the next day or so. But the good news is I am absolutely committed to returning within a month or so as I am coming back to the region and I’m looking forward to visiting our friends in the Philippines and I am very grateful to President Aquino and to the foreign minister for their understanding of the situation,” he added.

erry said there were plans for him to visit ietnam later this year and he would include the Philippines “if it works for you.”

“It works for us. e will really look forward to it,” Del Rosario for his part, said.

The DFA chief said they regret the postponement of erry’s visit to anila, but is looking forward to meeting him before the end of the year.

“ e have a plan to meet and discuss the many bilateral issues, these are not issues actually but we want to use this opportunity to further advance our alliance and our strategic partnership,” he said.

The hite ouse said erry was to take the place of S President Barack bama, who canceled his trip to Southeast Asia due to the S government shutdown.