By Ronnel Kien Bermas

PHOTO: ABS-CBN News

United States President Joe Biden has invited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to come to Washington D.C, despite a standing $353 million contempt order to him for a human rights suit against his father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

According to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff delivered Marcos Jr. an invitation letter from President Biden.

“I hope you can come to Washington once our teams find an appropriate time,” Romualdez said, citing Biden’s letter.

Romualdez added that the newly-inaugurated president “hopes to do so as soon as [their] schedules permit them.”

In relation to this development, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that Marcos Jr. is “welcome” to their country given his diplomatic immunity.

Regarding the contempt judgment handed down by a US court in 2012, Romualdez noted that Marcos Jr. is assured of an arrest-free visit due to his diplomatic immunity.

The contempt order was handed down to Marcos Jr., the dictator Marcos Sr., and former First Lady Imelda Marcos due to their defiance to a directive that prohibited them from distributing their assets to the Philippine government.

To expound, the action was deemed as a violation of the 1991 decision of the US District Court of Hawaii which banned them to use their US assets as such were intended to be used as compensation for the human rights victims of martial law.


Edited by Andreah Dianne M. Cartagena