Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday made a surprise stop in the Philippines to meet President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in his office at Malacanang Palace, where both leaders voiced their commitment to sovereignty and a global rules-based order.
Zelensky told Marcos Jnr after their brief meeting: “Thank you so much, Mr President. We’re happy to be first time in the Philippines. I’m sure not the last,” according to an official palace news release.
“Thank you for this invitation, and we’re very thankful to be in here in your country, and, which supports Ukraine, our territorial integrity and sovereignty. Thank you so much for your ‘big word’ and clear position about us, about this Russia occupation of our territories, and thank you on your support,” Zelensky was quoted as saying.
In turn, the palace said Marcos Jnr told the Ukrainian president it was “very good news” that the latter’s country would soon be opening an embassy in Manila this year “because we would very much like to continue to help, in any way that the Philippines can, through multilateral [efforts] and the UN”.
The Philippine leader pledged to “do all we can to promote peace and to bring an end to the fighting”, referencing Ukraine’s war with Russia.
“It will be a difficult road to find our way back to a situation that is morally acceptable not only to Ukraine, but to the rest of the world,” Marcos Jnr noted.
The palace news release also stated: “President Marcos shared that the Philippines has been trying to promote the continuing adherence to international rules-based order as he reiterated the country’s efforts to advocate for peace and do everything it can to promote that peace.”
This was an oblique reference to Marcos Jnr’s repeated assertion that China should adhere to the “international rules-based order”, especially in an ongoing territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
A 2016 arbitral ruling by an international tribunal, which was later dismissed by Beijing, stated that China’s nine-dash line was without basis under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The nine-dash line had enclosed both the Ayungin and Scarborough shoals – the main flashpoints between both sides – as within Chinese maritime territory.
Retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio told This Week in Asia he was “not surprised” by Zelensky’s sudden visit, adding this “shows how strategic the Ukrainians see the conflict”.
Explaining why the visit was in the national interest of Manila, he said: “In Europe, Russia is trying to overturn the foundational UN Charter principle that all disputes between states must be settled peacefully, outlawing the use of force or the threat of force to settle such disputes.
“In Europe, Russia is overturning this principle by invading and annexing a part of Ukraine to settle a territorial dispute. In the South China Sea, China is using threat of force to settle territorial and maritime disputes with China’s neighbours.”
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Carpio, who has made the South China Sea dispute a personal advocacy, said “both Russia and China are trying to overturn the foundational principle of the UN Charter that ‘Right is Might’”, a concept that he claimed “led to two world wars”.
There had been speculation the Ukrainian leader would visit Manila the night before he landed but the palace did not confirm this. Zelensky had come from the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, where he had called on Asian countries to join a June 15 peace summit in Switzerland.
Zelensky, wearing his signature casual black shirt with Ukrainian symbol, khaki cargo pants and rubber shoes – attire that would have been banned in Malacanang – was accorded an honour guard.
A small contingent of high government officials – clad in semi-formal wear and led by Marcos Jnr, followed by his cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and foreign secretary Enrique Manalo – greeted Zelensky inside.
At a press briefing on the sidelines of the Singapore forum, Zelensky had also accused China of pressuring other countries to boycott the Switzerland peace summit. Beijing has not responded to this salvo.
Zelensky said he had anticipated talking to Marcos Jnr on the sidelines of the forum but the Philippine leader had left soon after giving a keynote speech on Friday night, so he had taken up Manila’s invitation to visit the palace.
In May last year, during the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Asean Leadership Forum in Washington, Marcos Jnr said: “The Philippines has been very clear in our support for the resolutions in the United Nations that were passed upon the onset of the war in Ukraine. And that we respect the sovereignty and territoriality of every single nation in the world.”
He called Ukraine’s situation “incredibly critical” and said Asean member states “are in full agreement” over the need to protect the sovereign rights of each nation, calling the situation in Ukraine “something that is really anachronistic in the modern world”.
The Philippine president’s remarks over the past year contrast starkly with his on-the-fence stance when he was running for the presidency. In March 2022, he had declared during a forum that the Philippines should side with no one in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“I don’t think there’s a need to take a stand. We are not involved except for our nationals,” he had said then, noting that Manila’s main concern was how to repatriate its nationals living in Ukraine.