PH, US to ‘collaboratively...

Blinken said, have grown across various fields. He particularly cited the countries’ commitment to uphold international peace and stability and invest in the transition to clean energy, among others.

“We have accomplished much together, and I am confident we will continue to collaboratively confront the most pressing regional and global challenges,” Blinken said.

After Spain’s rule over the

Philippines for more than three centuries, the country then became a colony of the U.S. from 1898 until 1946.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. celebrated the Philippine Independence Day on Monday with a call for Filipinos to “assert [their] liberty day by day” amid the challenges the nation faces.

“The heroes of our liberation would be proud to know that we have thrown off the ‘ominous yoke of domination’ — never again to be subservient to any external force that directs or determines our destiny,” Marcos said in his first Independence Day speech as chief executive.

From the time Marcos was elected president last year, there has been a pivot in the Philippine foreign policy as it began restoring its ties with the U.S. This shift was made notable after the U.S. and the Philippines drifted apart in the past years during the term of Marcos’ predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. 