Philippine’s Marcos to visit Singapore

PM Wong, who declared then that relations between the two countries had “never been better”, also pledged Singapore’s full support for the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship. He said the two sides would be working “shoulder to shoulder” as the rotating post passes from Manila to Singapore.

“It is a partnership that has been carefully nurtured over the decades by successive generations of leaders and officials. It is built on a high degree of mutual trust and respect, and it has enabled mutually beneficial cooperation over a wide range of areas – for example, in trade and investments,” he said.

The two leaders also made headlines during PM Wong’s Manila trip by performing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight together at a state banquet, with President Marcos singing and PM Wong playing the electric guitar.

Their coordination has taken on greater significance as the Philippines steers the regional grouping through a packed 2026 agenda, including efforts to address the Myanmar crisis and long-running ASEAN-China negotiations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea.

While in Singapore, President Marcos will also meet Singapore business leaders and investors at a private roundtable discussion organised by the Milken Institute at the Philippine Embassy. Castro said the event is part of the government’s efforts to attract more investments after the World Bank recently reclassified the Philippines, which was a lower-middle-income economy, as upper-middle-income.

Philippine First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos, meanwhile, will be delivering a message at the Global Economic Cooperation East Summit forum at the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, at the invitation of the India-based Future Economic Cooperation Council.

The Singapore trip follows President Marcos’ visit to Canada, where the Philippines secured US$2.5 billion (S$3.2 billion) in investment commitments.