FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former President Rodrigo Duterte
BERLIN—Where’s the “pasyal”?
This was how President Marcos responded to the latest criticism coming from his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, that he was just out for some leisure whenever going on official trips abroad.
In an interview with reporters here, the President stressed that his schedule was so tight that he did not have time to go sightseeing during his three-day working visit to Germany.
“This is my schedule. Where’s the time for leisure? It’s my schedule for today. Where’s the ‘pasyal’? None,” Mr. Marcos said as he held up a copy of his schedule for the Philippine media delegation to see.
“You were with me. We don’t go sightseeing. Even in the places that I spent a lot of time in, I have not been able to visit the places that I used to visit. Because we’re here to work.”
READ: Lawmakers back Marcos’ overseas trips, cites gains
The President was reacting to a statement made by Duterte on Tuesday night during a rally held by supporters of embattled televangelist Apollo Quiboloy at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.
Meetings, forum
The President arrived here in Berlin on Monday night for a three-day working visit.
On Tuesday, he had back-to-back meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and executives of German companies and attended the Philippine-German Business Forum.
Later at night, Mr. Marcos met with the Filipino community in Berlin and then sat down for an interview with reporters the following day.
READ: Marcos leads PH in exchanging trade deals with Germany
The President left Berlin on Wednesday afternoon to fly to Prague, where he was invited for a three-day state visit to the Czech Republic.
His visit to Germany was his 24th foreign trip since he assumed office in mid-2022.
Germany was the 16th country he visited as President.
Travel budget spike
An earlier target of criticism was the sharp spike in Mr. Marcos’ budget for local and foreign trips: from P893.57 million in 2023 to P1.408 billion this year, up by 58 percent.
In comparison, Duterte made 21 trips to 20 countries during his entire presidency from 2016 to 2022. He also did not go outside Asia, except for two visits to Russia in 2017 and 2019.
Charter change motive
As to Duterte’s claim that Mr. Marcos only wanted to lift term limits in the 1987 Constitution to allow him to remain longer in power, the President said: “I am confused with the former President’s remarks because he keeps changing his stance.
“I have to examine it further, study what he is really saying. I can’t understand it, he seems to be changing his remarks, so I will try to make sense of it,” Mr. Marcos said.
“I don’t take it personally. It’s not easy, but I am able to separate what is work and what is personal. So I don’t see the problem there,” he added.