President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has underscored the importance of separating politics from economy amid geopolitical tensions in the region.
During the question and answer portion of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Country Roundtable on the Philippines on Tuesday, Marcos was asked about his perspective on the geopolitical recession currently faced by many countries around the world.
The President said that a small nation, such as the Philippines, has little influence over what more developed countries would do.
“That certainly presents an enormous challenge and the realignment within the great powers for a small country like the Philippines is something that we have to be able to manage at least for ourselves. We have little influence on what the great powers will do. We do however–, we are able, however, to deal with every power,” Marcos said.
“One of the first things, one of the first expressions of foreign policy that I made was that we are a friend to all and an enemy to none. And the only way that I see we are able to do that is to separate politics and the economy,” he added.
“And we’ll see what’s good for the economy. And so long as it does not impact poorly upon the political life here in the Philippines, then I think it is an acceptable activity to enter into,” Marcos said.
Marcos said the delineation between politics and economy should be maintained, adding that right choices should be ensured to maintain stability and protection of one’s sovereign rights.
“It’s not as you can imagine because economic power is also used as political power in many of these instances. So, it is not that simple, but we must continue to make that delineation and hopefully, we make the right choices so that our political stability, our political sovereignty, and sovereign rights are defended, robustly,” he said. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
