Speaker Martin Romualdez says President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attended an 'urgent call' to assess the situation in the Middle East. 'With the growing tensions in the Middle East, we have to secure our Filipinos who are in the region so we wanted to make security arrangements,' Romualdez told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Vientiane, Laos on Oct. 9, 2024. The Speaker declined to comment on the other issues discussed during the ongoing Asean summit, saying he did not want to preempt the President. VIDEO BY CATHERINE VALENTE
