Camille Naredo

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a courtesy visit at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on July 22, 2026. Francis R. Malasig, AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a courtesy visit at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on July 22, 2026. (Photo by FRANCIS R. MALASIG / POOL / AFP)

Article (news)

PH-USA

Harlene Delgado

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784713373322AFP__20260722__C2UA9AB__v1__MidRes__PhilippinesAsean.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a courtesy visit at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on July 22, 2026. Francis R. Malasig, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a courtesy visit at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on July 22, 2026. <em>Francis R. Malasig, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Malacañang Wednesday, July 22 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Minister&#x27;s Meeting that the U.S. official earlier attended. </p><p>During their meeting, Marcos Jr. thanked Rubio for visiting Manila despite his schedule while Rubio praised the Philippine&#x27;s hosting of the gathering, calling it a &quot;great job.&quot;</p><p>Rubio also recognized the enduring &quot;deep ties&quot; between the United States and the Philippines which he described as a &quot;partnership that is often growing.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/22/anti-us-protesters-clash-with-police-amid-rubio-visit-2-journalists-nearly-arrested-1323">Anti-US protesters clash with police during Rubio visit</a></div><p>&quot;And in light of recent events, I think more important than ever. So we&#x27;re glad to be here today to reaffirm that relationship and our commitment to the U.S.-Philippines relationship,&quot; Rubio told Marcos Jr.</p><p>&quot;Especially so, Mr. Secretary, as we are living the curse of &#x27;may you live in interesting times&#x27;,&quot; the Philippine leader said, pertaining to an idiom often attributed to a so-called &quot;Chinese curse.&quot;</p><p>&quot;And here we are, right in the middle of it. It doesn&#x27;t sound like a curse but it turns out that it is,&quot; he added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WHAT WAS DISCUSSED</strong></div><p>Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez, who was part of the meeting, said Marcos Jr. expressed gratitude to the continued support that the Philippines has been getting from the United States &quot;on all matters, not only in the defense but also on the economic front.&quot;</p><p>&quot;They wanted to convey the message and hopefully President [Donald] Trump will come in November during the ASEAN Leaders&#x27; Summit,&quot; the envoy noted. </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/22/rubio-tells-asean-allowing-iran-control-of-hormuz-dangerous-precedent-1153">Rubio tells ASEAN: Allowing Iran control of Hormuz &#x27;dangerous precedent&#x27;</a></div><p>He also confirmed that the &quot;Pax Silica&quot; project and the Luzon Economic Corridor were among the &quot;main points&quot; that Marcos Jr. expressed during the meeting. </p><p>&quot;His, well, I wouldn&#x27;t say gratitude, but he&#x27;s very pleased that it&#x27;s moving quickly and that will definitely help the Philippine economy and our aspiration to have the kind of economic prosperity that we&#x27;ve been looking for. Because it spells economic security for us,&quot; he said.</p><p>Artificial Intelligence was also discussed and its potential to usher in more investments, according to Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro.</p><p>&quot;Maraming trabaho at magpapaunlad ng ating kaalaman sa larangan ng AI,&quot; she said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>CHINA NOT DISCUSSED</strong></div><p>China, however, was &quot;not discussed,&quot; according to Romualdez.</p><p>&quot;It was just in passing,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;China, of course, has always been a situation that is always part of the conversation in the sense that the hope is that countries will have a way to be able to persuade China to be able to respect the rule of law and international law overseas and so forth and so on,&quot; the envoy noted. </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/21/ayungin-shoal-incident-brought-up-in-asean-meeting-2030">Ayungin Shoal incident brought up in ASEAN meeting</a></div><p>The International Criminal Court&#x27;s issue was also not discussed.</p><p>&quot;That is not mentioned. Those things have already been communicated to the system, meaning to the DFA, and they&#x27;re already studying ways on how we can respond to a request of that nature,&quot; he said. </p><p>The US recently announced a sweeping campaign against the tribunal, accusing it of posing &quot;an intolerable threat to US sovereignty.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/7/20/why-the-us-is-going-after-the-international-criminal-court-1013">Why the US is going after the International Criminal Court</a></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Malacañang Wednesday, July 22 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Minister's Meeting that the U.S. official earlier attended.</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Malacañang Wednesday, July 22 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Minister's Meeting that the U.S. official earlier attended.

Marcos Jr. meets Rubio in Malacañang, reaffirms 'deep ties' between PH, US

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Marcos Jr. meets Rubio in Malacañang, reaffirms 'deep ties' between PH, US

Harlene Delgado,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 22, 2026 05:44 PM PHT

Read More:

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marco Rubio

United States

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