New Delhi, August 5: Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. arrived in India on Sunday for his first official visit, as New Delhi and Manila deepen strategic and maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
The five-day trip, which runs until August 8, includes delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the signing of multiple bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
Marcos Jr., the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, was received at Rashtrapati Bhavan with a ceremonial welcome before visiting Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat. He is scheduled to visit the southern tech hub of Bengaluru on August 7.
The visit comes amid expanding naval cooperation between the two countries. On August 1, Indian Navy ships INS Delhi, INS Shakti and INS Kiltan arrived at the Port of Manila to conduct joint patrols with the Philippine Navy in the West Philippine Sea. The deployment, led by Rear Admiral Susheel Menon, marks a significant step following the first India-Philippines Maritime Dialogue in December 2024.
Philippine Armed Forces Chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. described the presence of Indian warships as a “clear demonstration” of mutual resolve to uphold maritime security.
India and the Philippines have stepped up political dialogue and defence exchanges over the past year. Modi and Marcos Jr. previously met on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits in Vientiane in October 2024 and in Jakarta in September 2023.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has also engaged frequently with his Philippine counterpart Enrique A. Manalo, including during the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi in March and the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Vientiane in July.
Jaishankar visited Manila from March 25 to 27 this year, where he met President Marcos Jr. and senior officials, including Defence Secretary Teodoro Gilbert. The Marcos family has been a prominent force in Philippine politics for over five decades. President Marcos Sr., who imposed martial law in the Philippines in 1972, visited India in May 1976 following the UNCTAD conference in Nairobi.
