Q: Hi, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Ah, yeah.

Q: Sir, pwede bang magtanong about Maharlika?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: O?

Q: Opo. Sir, following the amendment na wala na ‘yung GSIS and SSS sa Maharlika, do you think we’re in a right direction? What are your thoughts?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, we’re just doing the regular process of looking at the bill. Well, not we. It’s the legislature. So let them do their jobs. Tama ‘yan. Para gawin nilang perfect. 

Q: But are you --- do you think that Maharlika can be advantageous to the country because some…?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: For sure. I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise. No, no. It’s very clear that we need added investment. This is another way to get that. 

Q: Because sir some are worried na ‘yung timing daw, na baka…?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Na?

Q: Some are worried about…?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Let’s not debate until we see the final form because we could be debating about provisions that will no longer exist. So antayin natin kung anong gawin ng legislature.

Q: Hi sir. 

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah?

Q: Are you also going to make a pitch for the Filipino seafarers before the European Union, considering…?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, I will but you have to understand that the accreditation that we are trying to get is dependent upon us not…

It’s basically a checklist. Hindi tayo nakakatupad doon sa iba. And the attitude in the past was just to put the documents --- some documentary studies and that was what I was telling them. So tama… You can’t… Like ‘yung mga tech --- ‘yung mga machinery, ganyan. That can’t be fixed by a document. 

So they’ve --- but they’ve… I think they’ve changed their approach now to the accreditation. And I think we’ll be all right. 

Everybody in the industry is working very hard for us to get that. Napakalaking ano naman… Because we have 600,000 plus marino all over the world right now. So we don’t want to put them in ano, in a bad place. 

Q: What were your specific instructions to the appropriate Philippine agencies? DOTr, Marina, as regards our attempts to comply with the EMSA?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: We just have --- there’s no… It’s not something you can debate about. You comply. We’ll have to comply. So that we will be accredited. Hindi --- it’s not discretionary. 

Q: Yeah. It’s a 16-year-old problem, do you think once and for all we will be able to comply with EMSA? 

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I think that we will going to do everything that we can. We cannot leave it hanging like this. We cannot leave it hanging like this. And this is our last chance. So we have to really --- we really have to get it done. 

But again, the whole industry is working to make it happen. 

Q: Sir, good evening po. Sir, regarding po sa GSP+, ‘yung sa EU because…?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: ‘Yung?

Q: ‘Yung sa GSP+ po regarding the tariff sa --- they’re planning to push for its scrapping kung hindi daw magko-comply ang Pilipinas sa human rights issues? What’s your take on that sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: What are the human rights issues?

Q: Sir, because back in the time --- previous administration, I think it was in 2020 they issued a resolution pushing for the scrapping of the GSP+ because of non-compliance daw po ng Philippines sa --- itscommitment to protecting human rights.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good subject. We’ll bring it up with the EU. I don’t think one thing should be related to the other but we’ll see. We’ll see. Yeah. We’ll see. 

Okay? All right. Sige guys. Salamat. 

-END-

Watch here: Media Interview by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.