{"id":109841,"date":"2017-08-04T04:31:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T08:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=109841"},"modified":"2017-08-04T04:31:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-04T08:31:17","slug":"ph-welcomes-visit-of-us-secretary-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/04\/ph-welcomes-visit-of-us-secretary-of-state\/","title":{"rendered":"PH welcomes visit of US Secretary of State"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_109842\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109842\" style=\"width: 220px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/DFA-logo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109842\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/DFA-logo.png\" alt=\"The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the US State Department officials are expected to tackle with their Philippine counterparts at the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings the security situation in Marawi City.  (PNA photo)\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/DFA-logo.png 220w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/DFA-logo-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-109842\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the US State Department officials are expected to tackle with their Philippine counterparts at the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings the security situation in Marawi City. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"background: white;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">MANILA, Aug. 4 &#8212; The government on Friday welcomed the visit of United States (US) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other top officials to participate in the ASEAN-related meetings and discuss terrorism, security and other issues affecting the Philippines and the US.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the US State Department officials are expected to tackle with their Philippine counterparts at the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings the security situation in Marawi City, addressing the global threat of terrorism and increasing Philippine-US economic and people-to-people engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">\u201cThese discussions are all aimed at strengthening the old friendship between the two countries,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">The DFA also understood that it was part of the duty of government officials to talk about human rights, not only with the Philippines but with the rest of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">\u201c\u2026Because they are accountable to their Congress and their press as they advance their values and interests. We share the belief that no country has a perfect human rights situation,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">The DFA pointed out that discussions on the issue of human rights are always included in the country\u2019s engagements with foreign governments, particularly with Western democracies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">It stressed the Philippines is the oldest democracy in Asia and \u201crespect for human rights is a shared valued especially with its treaty ally, the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">\u201cWe welcome the opportunity to address their concerns and correct the perceptions they may have gleaned from exaggerated media reports,\u201d the DFA added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">The Philippines is hosting the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum on Aug. 7, Asia\u2019s biggest security forum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">Tillerson will also participate in the East Asia Summit Ministerial and the U.S.-ASEAN Ministerial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"background: white;text-align: start;margin: 15.0pt 0in 15.0pt 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.5pt;font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';color: black\">Foreign ministers from 27 countries are attending the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers\u2019 Meeting and Related Meetings at the Philippine International Convention Center from Aug. 2 to 8.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA, Aug. 4 &#8212; The government on Friday welcomed the visit of United States (US) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[595,343,20440],"class_list":["post-109841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-asean","tag-philippines","tag-us-secretary-of-state","mauthors-leslie-d-venzon","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}