Philippines' Marcos congratulates Trump, pins hope on 'unshakeable alliance'

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos congratulated Donald Trump on Wednesday (Nov 6) for winning the US presidential election, saying he looked forward to furthering Manila's "unshakeable alliance" with its military partner Washington.

The United States is a long-time mutual defence partner of the Philippines, which has been involved in increasingly violent confrontations with China over islands and waters in the South China Sea that Beijing claims almost in its entirety.

Manila has sought to project confidence in its partnership with the United States, despite concerns by security analysts that Trump's "America First" stance could see him pull back on the alliance, leaving the Philippines facing China alone in the contested waterway.

"President Trump has won, and the American people triumphed, and I congratulate them for their victory in an exercise which showed the world the strength of American values," Marcos said in a written statement.

Marcos said he looked forward to working with Trump "on a wide range of issues that will yield mutual benefits to two nations with deep ties, shared beliefs, common vision, and a long history of working together".

He added: "I am hopeful that this unshakeable alliance, tested in war and peace, will be a force of good that will blaze a path of prosperity and amity, in the region, and in both sides of the Pacific."

As the US polling places closed earlier on Wednesday, Filipino ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said Manila was confident of the future of the partnership.

"For all the speculation on what these elections mean for the Philippines, I can confidently say that the Philippines-US partnership will endure under any US presidency," Romualdez told a security forum in Manila.