Biden invites Marcos to visit Washington

MANILA – United States President Joe Biden has invited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to visit Washington.

US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff handed Marcos the personal letter from Biden, according to Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine Ambassador to the United States.

Emhoff, husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, led the seven-member delegation from Washington that attended the inauguration of Marcos at National Museum Manila on Thursday.

They later convened at Malacañang alongside officials from the US Embassy in Manila.

“In that letter of course, he [Biden] congratulated the President and that he hoped to be able to speak to him again by phone sometime soon. But also, invited him to come to Washington when both their schedules would allow. So, it is really an open invitation for President Marcos to come to the White House,” Romualdez said in an interview with One News on Friday.

Romualdez noted that the US “is very much on the radar and the United States is very eager to have President Marcos come” but it may take “a couple of months” before it materializes as Marcos would need to prioritize domestic issues.

“And then also, it was suggested that he would travel to the Asean countries which is also part of our diplomatic efforts to introduce him formally to many of his important allies,” Romualdez said.

Full immunity

Despite a long-standing contempt order that had banned Marcos from entering the US, he assured that Marcos will have “full diplomatic immunity” as head of state.

“Not at all. Head of state has full diplomatic immunity. There will be no problem whatsoever,” he added.

Romualdez stated that US Embassy Chargé d’affaires Heather Variava “immediately” informed Marcos about his immunity after he won the May 9 elections.

Due to his diplomatic immunity, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stated last month that Marcos is welcome in the US.

When asked how Marcos will handle diplomatic challenges, particularly those involving civil society protesting against his family, Romualdez responded that the President will focus on “talking about the future” rather than the past.

It is normal, he said, to expect protests against issues regardless of who is president, but expressed confidence that Marcos would do well both in the domestic and international scale.

“I’m very confident that he will do well because he is highly motivated. His motivation is based on the fact that he had an overwhelming mandate of 31 million people voting for him and secondly, very clearly, is because of his name. He will definitely prove himself to be worthy of being the President of the Republic of the Philippines,” he said.

Marcos received 31,629,783 votes or 58.77 percent of the votes cast.

Romualdez, meanwhile, confirmed that Vice President Sara Duterte will be going to the US ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 20.

“Before that, there is something to do with education which of course the Vice President is very much interested in because of her position also as Secretary of Education,” he said.