Vice Presidential Pool Reports of May 2, 2023

VP Pool #1

Good morning from the Vice President's residence.

Pool is Covid tested and gathered outside the Naval Observatory for the arrival of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr of the Philippines and First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos.

Today's event includes a bilateral and a brunch, scheduled for 9.50 am.

Sending along a hefty amount of background and related links, attributable to a White House official:

On Tuesday, May 2, the Vice President and Second Gentleman will host President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines and First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos for brunch at the Vice President's residence. In addition to U.S. and Philippine government delegation members, the brunch will include representatives of the Filipino-American community, including business leaders and civic leaders.

This engagement will advance an ambitious agenda for the U.S.-Philippines alliance and celebrate the tremendous momentum now animating bilateral efforts to advance prosperity, security, and friendship among our peoples.
Before the brunch, the Vice President and President Marcos will have a restricted bilateral meeting at the Residence. They will follow-up on their November 2022 bilateral meeting in Manila and President Biden's Monday meeting with President Marcos. We anticipate they will discuss the defense of international rules and norms in the South China Sea, including through expanding our Coast Guard partnership; strengthening our economic partnership, with particular attention to the clean energy economy and the economic opportunities presented by addressing the climate crisis; our commitment to human rights, including labor rights; and other issues.

The Vice President looks forward to reaffirming the strong Alliance between the United States and the Philippines and celebrating the Filipino-American community and our nations' strong people-to-people ties as part of this engagement.

In Manila, the Vice President met with President Marcos; Vice President Duterte-Carpio; Philippine human rights activists and labor leaders; and held a moderated conversation with young Filipinas.

The Vice President and President Marcos launched a series of new initiatives between our nations – including on security and prosperity – and agreed to strengthen our cooperation, which helped form the foundation for President Marcos' visit to Washington this week.

• More specifically, the Vice President and President Marcos discussed new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites. The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) builds on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, providing a legal basis for Philippine and American service members to undertake security cooperation exercises, pursue joint and combined military training activities, and rapidly respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts from agreed locations in the Philippines, on a rotational basis.
• The Vice President's trip—which catalyzed progress on EDCA sites—enabled the United States and the Philippines to continue to work together toward our shared objectives.
• Now, the United States is working closely with communities in the vicinity of the EDCA sites to fully realize their positive value for local development and for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. To that end, the United States will expand our work in these communities and areas to support health, education, environmental protection, economic growth, and disaster preparedness.
• The Vice President reaffirmed that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, and President Marcos publicly welcomed this reaffirmation.
• The Vice President also agreed to launch 123 Agreement Negotiations for Civil Nuclear Energy, which, once in force, will provide the legal basis for the U.S. exports of nuclear equipment and material to the Philippines; initiated an Energy Policy Dialogue and a Food Security Dialogue, which will meet for the first time this week; and strengthened our economic partnership through new infrastructure development and clean energy projects.
• Throughout her engagements with Philippine officials, the Vice President underscored the importance of respect for human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and the importance of bolstering democratic principles. She had the opportunity to meet with human rights activists and labor organizers and discussed with them the importance of protection of labor rights, media freedom, and combatting trafficking in persons.

In Palawan, the Vice President visited Tagburos fishing village and met with fishers and visited the Teresa Magbanua Coast Guard vessel where she met with Philippine Coast Guard officials and delivered remarks on our commitment to rules and norms in the South China Sea.

The Vice President is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Palawan and her decision to travel there was a strong statement of her commitment to uphold international rules and norms, in the face of China's provocations. She made clear our respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, unimpeded lawful commerce, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.

During her visit to Tagburos, she met with village leaders and community leaders and Tagubros residents and heard their stories directly, and identified ways to strengthen our economic partnership. They discussed the impacts of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing on the village, on the marine ecosystem, and on the local economy. The Vice President reiterated our commitment to work with the people of Palawan to promote sustainable fisheries and therefore protect lives and livelihoods.

• The Vice President initiated new programs to support U.S.-Philippine maritime cooperation.
• More specifically, the Vice President announced additional support for the Philippine maritime law enforcement agencies, including to counter illegal fishing, improve maritime domain awareness, and provide search and rescue support, including in the South China Sea.
• She also launched a new partnership, through USAID, to support livelihoods of those in fishing communities and advance conservation of marine ecosystems in the South China Sea.

More specifics on the Vice President's travel to the Philippines follows:

• Remarks by Vice President Harris And President Marcos of the Republic of the Philippines Before Bilateral Meeting
• Readout of Vice President Harris's Meeting with President Marcos of the Philippines
• FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches New Initiatives to Strengthen U.S.-Philippines Alliance
• Readout of Vice President Harris's Meeting with Vice President Duterte of the Philippines
• Vice President Harris's Meeting With Filipina Civil Society Leaders And Human Rights Defenders
• Remarks by Vice President Harris In a Moderated Conversation With Ambassador Marykay Carlson and Young Women
• FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches Initiatives to Support U.S.-Philippines Maritime Cooperation
• Remarks by Vice President Harris Aboard the Philippine Coast Guard Ship Teresa Magbanua

In June 2022, the Second Gentleman visited Manila and led the Presidential Delegation to the inauguration of President Marcos. While there, he met with President Marcos and Vice President Duterte-Carpio. The Second Gentleman visited the Manila American Cemetery to commemorate fallen U.S. soldiers from WWII and met with Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative alum.

The Second Gentleman also delivered a letter from President Biden to President Marcos inviting him to Washington, culminating in this visit this week.

VP Pool #2: Arrival and greetings

Your pooler could hear distant shouting ahead of the president's arrival which could have been protesters, it was unclear from this distance.

Vice President Harris and Second Gentleman Emhoff stepped out of the residence at 10am. President Marcos and First Lady Araneta-Marcos arrived at virtually the same time.

Pool's view of the VP and the President's initial handshake was obstructed by the President's limo.

The Second Gentleman walked around to the pool's side of the car to greet First Lady Araneta-Marcos and told her: "it's good to see you again" as they shook hands. With thanks to co-pooler Tara Prindiville who was in position to spot the VP nudging her husband into position.

In response to a remark from the President which your pooler could not hear Ms Harris said with a small laugh: "Oh I can imagine. But we're going to feed you!"

VP Harris and the SG were wearing blue suits, Ms Harris a light blue suit with a white blouse and the SG what appeared to be a dark blue suit and tie.

First Lady Araneta-Marcos wore a dark ochre/ olive green dress and coat. President Marcos wore an embroidered white shirt and grey trousers.

The two couples then walked up the patio and stood outside the door, flanked by flags from the two nations.

VP Harris began by welcoming them and thanking them for their "warm welcome" during her trip to the Philippines last year.
She said: "I know the President and you had a very meaningful and good meeting yesterday, and I'm looking forward to our time together this morning.
"But I want to thank you because the strength of the alliance between the United States is probably stronger than ever under your leadership". (pls check against transcript)

Ms Harris discussed the importance of a clean energy economy, "you and I share a passion for that", she told President Marcos, as well as issues that relate to food security and what we must do around digital inclusion.
The VP also discussed security in the South China Sea and the work of US Coast Guards and those in the Philippines which she said "are working together in that region very closely".
"So again, welcome, welcome. It's good to see you," she said.

President Marcos thanked Ms Harris for her words and told her: "You laid the groundwork" for this visit to the United States, the President said, noting that the US is his nation's only treaty partner "in the world".
The President added: "It is natural... like any friendship we go through many cycles and I think this is an up cycle" in an apparent reference to relations under his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.
"We're very, very happy to be here to get this opportunity to speak with you and to have spoken with your president so thank you very much," Mr Marcos said.

The interaction lasted under 10 minutes.

In response to a shouted question from the pool about how concerned he was with continued provocation from China in the South China Sea, Mr Marcos responded: "As concerned as you could possibly be. It is one of the major issues that we have to face back home."

Asked if he believed cooperation with the Vice President and President Biden will get him closer to protecting the region, he said: "Well cooperation with the United States certainly. It's just something that we are building upon that has been going on for many, many many decades. And we just keep going."

VP Harris had a cold smile which suggested she was frustrated by the questions and the leaders turned and entered the residence shortly afterwards. Pool was ushered away from the residence shortly after, around 10.07am.
A full Otter transcript is available here: https://otter.ai/u/u9lM-F5RWc_YD2QMyby6huev69Q?utm_source=copy_url

VP Pool #3 protesters outside the VP's residence

Following up to confirm there were protesters outside the VP's residence. Pool was able to spot them as we exited the residence.

They chanted: "The Philippines is not for sale!"

One protester said: "We are here to let Vice President Kamala Harris know.... the Filipino people do not want the Philippines to be up for sale.

"We want no more military aid to the Philippines. We want to end all human rights abuses and to defend Filipino sovereignty"

I have tweeted a link to some video of the protesters as well as a photo of the VP welcoming President Marcos.

https://twitter.com/RozinaSabur/status/1653416185713532933

That's the final print pool report from me. Reach out with any questions.