The long-awaited meeting between President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and US President Barack Obama finally happened. Although it took only 7 minutes, the meeting ended with full of promise.
On the sidelines of a visit at the Hewlett-Packard headquarters in Cupertino, California, Aquino said he and Obama reached a consensus that they would be meeting again in the near future.
Both leaders talked about a US assistance in cleaning up an ammunition dump in Corregidor, the island fortress, which stands as a memorial to the heroism of Filipino and American soldiers during World War II. It is about 48 kilometers west of Manila.
The rocky island was a key bastion during the second world war. Corregidor also served as the headquarters of the Allied forces, as well as the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth.
Today, Corregidor has become a tourist site with its ruins and tunnel structures.
The short meeting happened at a leaders’ meeting of the United States-Association of Southeast Asian Nations in New York Saturday morning (Manila time).
During the meeting, Aquino brought up another festering issue, which the Philippine leader said was an “issue that occupies a growing concern…the competing territorial claims within the South China Sea, including our own Kalayaan Islands. Such competing claims can serve as flashpoints for conflict as they did in the 1990s. He said the Spratlys controversy can be addressed through peaceful means.
With a report from Ging Reyes
ABS-CBN Northern American Bureau
