President Marcos will make at least five more trips abroad before the end of 2023, bringing his total foreign trips since assuming office to 19, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday.
The President is attending the Gulf Cooperation Economic Summit in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 20, DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said.
The summit would be the first meeting of Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) leaders with the Arab state, the DFA official said.
Mr. Marcos is also scheduled to attend the ASEAN Cooperation Council, APEC Economic Leaders in the United States, the Climate Change Conference in Dubai, and the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit in Tokyo, de Vega added.
As of early August, the Chief Executive had made 14 foreign trips since he took office on June 30, 2022, including one to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix race in Singapore in October 2022.
The President has made five state visits—Indonesia, Singapore, China, Japan, and Malaysia.
He again watched the Singapore Grand Prix-Formula 1 in mid-September.
Mr. Marcos also went on an official visit to the United States from April 30 to May 4 this year.
He also was a guest at the coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023.
De Vega noted the President would represent the Philippines “at the highest level” and that it was important for Mr. Marcos to be on those trips, as the heads of state of other countries are also going to be there.
“All the ASEAN leaders will be in those meetings. Do you want our President not to be there?” he said in a television interview over ABS-CBN.
“He’s going to talk to Saudi Arabia. We know we have pending issues,” De Vega said.
“If he’s not going there, then the Philippines is not represented at the highest level. He has to be there,” De Vega added.
Earlier, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that the Office of the President (OP) incurred P403.088 million in travel expenses in 2022, up by a whopping 995.6 percent or P366.296 million from the P36.792 million in total travel expenses in 2021.
In the proposed 2024 national budget, Malacañang asked for P1.408 billion to fund Marcos’ local and foreign trips next year, a 58 percent jump from his 2023 travel allocation.