00:00How many meetings were held on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore?
00:09The success of the Olympic double gold medalist Carlos Yulo was also discussed by the two leaders.
00:16And we are joined live by Ivan Mairena.
00:19Ivan.
00:21Vicky, the President of Singapore, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam is in the country for a three-day state visit here in the Philippines.
00:32This visit is in accordance with the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore,
00:38where more than 200,000 Filipinos work or live.
00:43The bilateral meeting of the two leaders has not yet become commonplace
00:46because after their preliminary discussions on cooperation and strengthening relations,
00:51they went to discuss the success of Carlos Yulo in the past Olympics.
00:57Mr. Yulo's two golds is the only athlete from Southeast Asia, from an ASEAN nation,
01:06who's had two Olympic golds ever in any sport.
01:09So it's a real milestone.
01:11It's a real milestone for all of us.
01:13I mean, we shine a bit of the reflected glory of the Philippines.
01:18That's what I was telling everyone.
01:20Tonight, it's not about us.
01:22We're just reflected glory over here and trying to be part of the achievements of our athletes.
01:30We are very, very proud.
01:32The welcome that people gave was really overwhelming.
01:36Just this past May, President Marcos came to Singapore for a working visit.
01:41He also spoke to President Tarman and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
01:46In his keynote address in Shangri-La Dialogue there,
01:50the President reiterated the position of the Philippines
01:52that we cannot be defeated in the South China Sea.
01:55This July, the two countries passed the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation.
02:00Tonight, the two other agreements were formally passed.
02:03One of them is for the implementation of regulations on the recruitment of healthcare workers
02:07and the care for their health.
02:09And another is a memorandum on giving incentives to industries
02:12to reduce their carbon footprints and take care of the environment.
02:16Some other agreements are being made between private sectors and NGOs in Singapore
02:21and local governments here in the Philippines.
02:24Again, the two leaders mentioned their shared position on the South China Sea.
02:30I look forward to the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to maintain
02:34and to promote peace, security and stability in the region
02:38as well as our strong support for the peaceful resolution of any such disputes.
02:44The South China Sea is an extremely important issue.
02:47Singapore's position, of course, is well known.
02:49We've consistently upheld the rights of all states to freedom of navigation and overflight
02:56and strongly supported the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law
03:03including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
03:10Last night, a state banquet was prepared by the Palacio for the Singapore delegation
03:16where several other negotiators will also be attending.
03:19The next few days, the Singapore President will have a few more meetings
03:23and will visit several research institutions here in the Philippines.
03:26Vicky.
03:27Thank you very much, Ivan Mayrina.
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