Kerry to visit typhoon-hit Tacloban during PHL visit

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 10): Kerry to visit typhoon-hit Tacloban during PHL visit
 
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban during his visit to the Philippines next week, the State Department said on Tuesday.

“The Secretary will visit the storm-hit city of Tacloban to witness first-hand the recovery efforts that are taking place there and discuss how the United States can continue to contribute to the relief and reconstruction work,” a State Department statement said.

The U.S. government, a long-time military ally of the Philippines, was among the first countries to bring in troops and aircraft, navy ships and financial assistance after the country was stunned by the magnitude of the death and destruction wrought by super typhoon Yolanda on Nov 8. At least 5,800 were killed and the numbers continue to grow by the day as more bodies are being retrieved from the rubble.

Kerry’s Philippine visit is part of his Southeast Asian swing, which includes Vietnam.

The State Department did not say the date of Kerry’s Philippine visit but said he will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Tacloban and Manila from December 11-18.

“In Manila, the Secretary will meet with senior Philippine officials to discuss ways to build on our already-strong economic, security, and people-to-people relations,” it said.

Kerry was supposed to visit Manila last October in place of U.S. President Barack Obama, who canceled his first-ever visit to the Philippines on Oct. 11 and 12, due to a budget deadlock at the U.S. Congress that forced a shutdown of U.S. government agencies nationwide.

The trip was shelved due to bad weather.

Kerry was expected to discuss with counterpart Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario a planned increased rotation presence of American troops in the Philippines -- the terms of which are being negotiated by Philippine and U.S. panels.

They were also expected to touch on regional and international issues like China’s air defense zone and the renewed tensions in the South China Sea, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan are locked in a years-long territorial rivalry.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=595590