CA confirms appointments of Romualdez, Lagdameo as envoys to US, UN
NEWLY CONFIRMED Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez (center) in a file photo with former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (right) and US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III at the Pentagon in Washington DC.
By Claire Morales True, Managing Editor
PASAY CITY/WASHINGTON D.C. – Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez will officially continue as the country’s envoy to the US.
This as the Commission on Appointments confirmed Romualdez’ appointment together with Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations Antonio Manuel Lagdameo.
During the CA deliberation, Romualdez declared as GMA News reported that the relationship of the Philippines and the US is “at its best.”
Romualdez, who also served as the Philippine Ambassador to the US during the previous administration, attributed this to the “independent foreign policy” of former President Rodrigo Duterte. He said the current administration will benefit from this.
“I would like to give credit to former President Duterte because his brand of foreign policy as far as the independent foreign policy is concerned has reverberated well here in Washington DC in the sense that we are not going to be taken for granted and are not taken for granted by the United States,” he said.
omualdez said one of the marching orders of Marcos is to increase economic activities with countries such as the US.
“One important matter that I think President Marcos has made clear to us is that he would like to increase our economic ties with countries like the US… mainly because he believes that the economy of the world is at stake especially after this pandemic. We all need to recover from it and I think that the global economy is very important and the US will be able to play a major role especially in our economic ties with the United States,” he said.
“So that is sort of like the marching orders I got from the President that we will now increase our economic activities between our two countries,” he added.
Romualdez said among the pending matters that he will be working on with the US is the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Romualdez, a second cousin of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., will have concurrent jurisdiction over Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, and Saint Lucia.
Lagdameo, who had served as the ambassador to the United Kingdom prior to his appointment under the new administration, is the father of Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr. and father in law of actress Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo.
