PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over the weekend met with Filipinos in Los Angeles, California and urged them to “continue being good ambassadors,” promoting the Philippines as a prime tourism, trade and investment destination in Asia.

Marcos was on the second leg of his working visit to the United States, after his participation in the 30th AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting held in San Francisco.

“We cannot make this dream come true all by ou rselves, we need your support and we know that you will gladly walk, and continue working with us in realizing our goal. After all, your love for our country and people has not been extinguished by the years that you’ve spent away from our motherland,” he said during the event.

“So, help us realize this dream. Continue being the ambassadors that you have been for our Filipino culture and relentless champions of the Philippines as a tourism, trade and investment destination in Asia,” he added.

There are 4.4 million Filipinos in the United States, with the majority residing in Southern California, making this geographic spot in the world the home of the biggest Filipino Diaspora in the US.

This makes US-based Filipinos among those with the highest remittances to the Philippines.

“You are a big help to the economy of our country. Sometimes, you might think it’s only your families you’ve been helping with your sacrifices, by being far away. But it’s not just your families but also the whole Philippines,” he said in Filipino.

“The remittances that you are sending back have become a very important part of our economy. We have increased every year and it continues to be not only of help as I said, to your own families but even to your communities and it helps transform those communities. So, that amount — what you have helped our country and people, whether some of the most difficult global and regional financial and economic crises — for many, many years has been invaluable and for that, we cannot thank you enough,” he added.