President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. said he is open to the idea of a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Japan as long as the deal is &ldquo;appropriate&rdquo; and does not increase tensions&rdquo; in the South China Sea.
The President made this remark in an interview with the press onboard Philippine Airlines (PAL) Flight PR 001 en route to Manila.
&ldquo;I think if it will be of help to the Philippines in terms of protecting, for example, our fishermen, protecting our maritime territory if it&rsquo;s going to help, if the results of our own study&hellip; siyempre pag-aaralan pa natin &lsquo;yan eh kung talagang makakatulong," Marcos said.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If kung talagang makakatulong, I don&rsquo;t see why we should not adopt it&hellip;. If it is appropriate, if it does not constitute danger of increasing tensions, then that might be useful for the Philippines,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;
Marcos is returning from his visit to Japan where he reportedly secured over $13 billion in contributions and pledges as well as signing seven bilateral agreements and 35 investment deals.&nbsp;
The President also raised the need to &ldquo;be careful also because we don&rsquo;t want to appear provocative.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Imbis na pinapakalma natin ang sitwasyon sa South China Sea, ang ginagawa natin, mas magiging mainit, diba? That would be one,&rdquo; Marcos said.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Ang iniisip ko lang, &lsquo;yung ating mga fishermen kailangang maprotektahan, kailangang maliwanag na tayo sa Pilipinas [ay] talagang&hellip; we are patrolling our waters and making sure that it is well-recognized na &lsquo;yan ang talagang&hellip; maritime territory talaga ng Pilipinas &lsquo;yan,&rdquo; he continued.&nbsp;
The President, who concluded his working visit to Tokyo on Sunday, earlier said the Philippines will also review a proposed trilateral defense and security deal with two of its closest allies &ndash; the United States and Japan.

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Prez Marcos open to ‘appropriate, beneficial’ VFA with Japan