MANILA, Philippines — Malacanang disclosed  Tuesday that President Benigno S. Aquino III will be meeting with new Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra this week in Malacanang.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Thai Prime Minister will be meeting with President Aquino on Thursday but did not disclose other details of the upcoming meeting.

It will be the first time that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be visiting the country.

It will be recalled that when President Aquino made a working visit to Thailand in May 2011, Yingluck Shinawatra was then campaigning for the elections.

Yingluck Shinawatra is the 26th Prime Minister of Thailand. She is also the first female Prime Minister of the said country as well as the youngest Prime Minister in 60 years.

President Aquino was also expected to receive US Senators John McCain and Joe Liebermann at the President’s Hall in Malacanang Tuesday night.

Lacierda said that the President was expected to discuss with Sen. McCain the Save Our Industries Act or the “SAVE Act.”

The SAVE Act aims to grant duty-free entry to the US of certain Philippine-made apparels that used US fabrics.

The SAVE Act is expected to further open the market for the entry of US fabrics to Asia and increase job generation in the  textile and garments sector. The US market accounts to about 80 percent of the Philippine garments exports.

Lacierda also said that President Aquino will discuss the Philippine – US Mutual Defense Treaty, particularly issues on the West Philippine Sea.

“Since he [McCain] is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, they will be discussing issues surrounding the West Philippine Sea,” Lacierda said.

The Mutual Defense Treaty, signed on August 30, 1951, dictates that both the US and the Philippines would support each other in case of an attack by an external party. Most of the Philippines’ modern defense equipment such as the Hamilton Class Cutter BRP Gregorio del Pilar came from the US government as part of the RP – US mutual cooperation.

Just last Friday (January 13), a delegation of US Congressmen led by Rep. Harold Rogers visited Malacanang and said they attest to the fact  that the Aquino administration “is doing all it can to right the wrongs of the past."

Aside from the Thai Prime Minister and the US Senators, former Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo is also expected to visit the country this month. Yeo had visited the country several times – in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010, during the inauguration of President