President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Friday congratulated newly sworn in Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a telephone call.

Malacañang said the President expressed his hope to work with the new Malaysian leader particularly as the Southeast Asian region tackles various challenges.

"I just wanted to be — to immediately – to be one of the first to congratulate you, because I'm very happy to hear the news. I was very happy to hear the news and I wanted to congratulate you immediately myself," Marcos said during the telephone call.

"I am sure this will make Malaysia and the Philippines even closer because we will be in touch with one another."

In his Twitter account, Anwar thanked the Philippine leader for the call, saying: "As founding fathers of ASEAN, our two nations have always enjoyed strong cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums."