Obama visiting? Palace mum

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang would rather wait for an official communication from the White House than speculate if US President Barack Obama would drop by Manila in April when he is expected to reschedule some of his cancelled trips to Asian countries last year.

“We will wait for the official confirmation. Normally, it’s the White House that makes the announcement, so let’s wait for the official announcement,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Obama cut the Philippine and Malaysia legs of his visit to Asia in 2013 following the US government’s partial shutdown after the US Congress failed to reach an agreement on the national budget.

The US leader was originally set to visit Manila and Kuala Lumpur after attending last October’s APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Brunei Darussalam.

Obama ended up not attending any of the meetings in Asia and sent US Secretary of State John Kerry instead in October 2013.

“As you know, there’s a government shutdown in the US and they cut their trip short by about half,” former Secretary Ricky Carandag recalled.

He and the US embassy in Manila said Obama personally called President Aquino to explain to him why he could not make the visit.

“President Obama told President Aquino that he wants to come to the Philippines on a later date before the end of his term. So, we do expect to welcome President Obama here some time before he steps down,” Carandang said.

The Philippines and the United States are negotiating an increased rotational presence of American forces in the country, which remains hanging until now.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage hinted recently that the Philippines is likely to be include in Obama’s itinerary when he visits Asia in April, particularly because the Visayas was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda last November.

The Filipino community in Washington is abuzz with speculations that Obama, while in the Philippines, may visit Tacloban City, the hardest hit by Yolanda.

He mentioned the typhoon tragedy in his State of the Union address last week, saying Filipinos greeted US Marines and civilians, the first responders to the disaster area, with words like “we will never forget your kindness” and “God bless America.”

Should Obama visit Tacloban as Kerry did in December, these same sentiments and more will ring in his ear.

Armitage said Japan and Malaysia are also on Obama’s itinerary.

He also mentioned the increasing territorial claim and aggressiveness of China in the West Philippine Sea dispute, which necessarily needs reassurance from a long-time ally like the US.

Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security advisor, said no announcements about the stops on the April trip to Asia have been made yet, but he “will say though that the President is committed to going to Japan as a general matter.”

He said a key topic of discussions with Asian leaders would be maritime security.