Manila, Feb. 20 -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday expressed his intent to further deepen the Philippines' economic, defense, and diplomatic ties with the Czech Republic.

In a meeting with Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova at Malacanan Palace in Manila, Marcos expressed optimism about closer cooperation and collaboration between the two nations.

I am very optimistic for the future in terms of our relationship with each other in all things, on the people-to-people side, on the economic side, the defense and security, the diplomatic and the government-to-government," Marcos told Cernochova

"So, I think that really there is much that we can do together, and there are many areas that we still need to explore," he added....