A trio of Cabinet secretaries will steer the government while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is abroad for a working trip to Kazan, Russia, the Palace announced Wednesday.
Tapped as caretakers are Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, and Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino.
The President’s itinerary centers on the Asean–Russia Commemorative Summit, set for June 17 and 18, where he is also scheduled to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for bilateral talks.
The summit is expected to yield several documents from Asean leaders and Putin mapping out the trajectory of ties between the bloc and Moscow in the years ahead.
“As Chair of Asean, the Philippines is committed to ensuring that this Commemorative Summit produces substantive and forward-looking outcomes that deepen Asean’s Strategic Partnership with Russia and contribute, in concrete terms, to regional peace, stability, and shared prosperity,” Marcos said before departing.
The visit carries a generational echo. It marks the first time the President has set foot in Russia, arriving half a century after his father, the late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., made his own trip to the then-Soviet Union in 1976.
“Together with my fellow Asean Leaders and President Vladimir Putin, we will take stock of 35 years of Asean–Russia cooperation and help chart a course for the decades ahead,” Marcos said.
