President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) and his father, the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. —Photos from the Facebook page of Bongbong Marcos and Wikimedia Commons
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Ambassador to the US Babe Romualdez said on Thursday he was present during the meeting between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns.
Romualdez said Marcos met with Burns at a ceremony held at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, back in May.
Among those present at the ceremony were Ayala CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, International Container Terminal Services Inc. CEO Enrique Razon, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. CEO Sabin Aboitiz.
“I was there when he [ Marcos] met with Director Burns and he showed him the records,” Romualdez told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
According to Romualdez, Burns reportedly allowed Marcos access to classified CIA records that showed the role that his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., played in World War II.
“Records showed that President Marcos Sr. did play a role in World War II, passing information to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) that saved many Filipino soldiers who were fighting in Bataan,” Romualdez said.
READ: Bongbong Marcos vows to uphold dad’s legacy of love for country
Romualdez added that the late Marcos continued his friendship with the OSS officer he was in contact with — a certain CL Jamison — up to the 1970s.
The OSS is a precursor of the present CIA.
The current president first announced that he met with Burns during a speech in Ilocos Norte on Wednesday.
According to the president, he asked Burns to show him records about his father’s time working with the OSS, which the latter concurred with.
“They took me to the records room and they started to show me many of the records, the reports that were given during the war that are still secret,” Marcos said in a speech during a wreath-laying ceremony for his father’s 107th birthday.
“And I mean he was greater than even we realized. The things that he did, the things that — the sacrifices that he made for the Philippines,” he added.
Marcos said he tried to get a copy of the records, but the CIA said it was still “classified.”