Speech of His Excellency Jose Manuel “Babe” G. Romualdez

I would like to thank Rotary Club of Manila President Jackie Rodriguez, a personal friend, for inviting me to speak here today. My thanks also to Past President Jimmie Policarpio, Chairman, Program Committee, the rest of the RCM Board, and of course all of you whom I have missed for the past year and a half.

I’m now on my third year as Ambassador to the United State, and this is probably one of the most challenging times in our country’s relationship with the United States. As you all know, the order of President Duterte to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) – and the reaction of President Trump about this development – points to the changing dynamic in an evolving world.

The VFA which was ratified in 1991, provided guidelines and procedures regarding the entry of American soldiers in the Philippines, and allowed the conduct of joint military exercises between American and Filipino soldiers such as the Balikatan.

Two schools of thought are debating the decision to terminate the VFA. There are those who believe terminating it is the right thing to do because of unclear provisions such as jurisdiction with regard to American soldiers accused of committing a crime. Some on the other hand paint a very grim picture almost to the point of hysteria, making it appear as if an invasion of the Philippines will occur once the termination of the agreement becomes final after 180 days.

As the chief architect of our foreign policy, President Duterte has determined from the beginning that we will exercise an independent foreign policy that would assert our sovereignty as a nation – a subject that he is most passionate about and rightly so.

While the decision of the President to cancel the VFA may seem drastic to some people, the underlying issue is sovereignty and national interest which are, in the words of DFA Secretary Teddyboy Locsin, the paramount consideration in our foreign relations. Just as we are expected to respect the laws of other countries, we also expect other countries to respect ours – more so from a longtime ally like the United States. We want to be treated like an equal partner, with domestic issues that we should resolve on our own without undue demands or interference from other governments.

We are referring of course to the case of Senator Leila de Lima, with some US Senators already making conclusions and declaring it to be “wrongful.” The demand of these Senators to release Senator De Lima despite the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled on the validity of the drug charges filed against her, was deemed by a large number of Filipinos as unwarranted foreign interference because it unfairly assumes that the Philippines does not have a justice system in place. This is rather ironic considering that our justice system is modelled after the American system, which is why I have always been emphatic during my engagements with US Senators that we should focus on capacity-building measures to help the Philippines improve its justice system in the same manner that many other nations also need to improve their.

The situation was compounded by the introduction of an amendment to the US Appropriations Bills that would ban Philippine government officials involved in the De Lima case from entering the US. Then the cancellation of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s US visa came, precipitating the decision of the President to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Just to let you know, I have continually engaged with US Senators and Congressmen particularly the Democrats to explain the situation in the Philippines. I provided a summary of the cases involving Senator De Lima and gave them status updates. Early last year, 12 Senators wrote to the President urging the government to release Senator De Lima and drop the charges against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.

We provided a comprehensive reply which we sent to the 12 Senators hoping the information would give a more nuanced and thorough understanding of the issues they raised. Following that, only four of the original 12 Senators subsequently filed a resolution which sounded more like a demand to drop the cases against Senator De Lima and Maria Ressa.

Be that as it may, the recent developments do not mean the end of our alliance or friendship with the United States. The ties that bind our two nations are deep and extensive, rooted in our shared history and the deep people-to-people relations that have only grown stronger over the years. Proof of this is the presence of close to five million Filipino-Americans in the US, plus the results of the Social Weather Stations survey covering the 3rd quarter of 2019 that showed the US as the country that Filipinos trust the most and the Pew Research Center survey released last month where of all respondents, Filipinos showed the highest confidence in President Trump at 77 percent.

As I pointed out in my recent column, the VFA is not the be-all and end-all, especially if we look back to the time when the Philippine Senate voted against the retention of the US military bases in 1991 – triggering apprehensions about the fate of the Philippines and Filipinos especially the 20,000 or so working at the Subic Naval Base, and the commercial establishments that were generating a lot of business the presence of the American bases in Clark and Subic. Despite that hump in our relationship, the alliance between the US and the Philippines remained intact – and I am sure this will remain so because, as DFA Secretary Locsin said, the friendship between the Philippines and the United States is “bigger than our mutual defense requirements, and its roots are buried far deeper in the earth of shared democratic beliefs, attitudes in life, values and vices in practice, with the intergenerational bond and goodwill between our peoples remaining ingrained in the social psyche.” One could even describe the relationship as a tapestry, with single threads woven together over the past 70 years to create an intricate, multifaceted pattern that makes it unique and special.

When I first took the post as Ambassador to Washington, I asked the President what his marching orders are, and he told me, “just do your job.” The challenge for me at the time was to reboot the relationship between the Philippines and the United States because of the strain that developed between President Duterte and Barack Obama. And so I did my job, engaging with US Legislators, the Pentagon, White House officials, and various stakeholders to enhance the relationship between the US and the Philippines in many aspects that include security, the economy and people-to-people ties.

But as they say, the only thing that is permanent in this world is change. The recent developments clearly show that the world is evolving and changing – hopefully for the better, even as the challenge at this time is to pursue other areas of cooperation particularly on the economic front.

The US happens to be our third biggest trading partner, our biggest export market and our fourth largest import source. In fact, the Philippines currently enjoys a trade surplus with the United States, which is also our fifth largest source of investments and the third biggest source of tourists with over one million US visitors in 2018.

With recent indications pointing to the possibility of President Trump having another 4-year term at the White House, it has become even more vital for us to have a good relationship with the Executive Branch of the US government. Fortunately, both leaders like and respect each other, with President Trump saying he has a very good relationship with President Duterte, who in turn said Trump is a good President who deserves to be re-elected.

As the President’s representative in Washington, I am aware that a lot of challenges will be forthcoming, but we are ready to move forward and meet these challenges head on. I will continue to engage with US legislators, the White House and Pentagon officials and all other stakeholders to forge a good – even better – relationship with our longstanding and only military ally. We will continue to look for ways to cooperate on the many aspects of the relationship between America and the Philippines.

Let me end by quoting President Manuel Quezon’s words during his State of the Nation Address on January 22, 1940: “We hope for the best. We shall promote friendly relations with other nations and be mindful of their rights. We shall endeavour to protect and defend our national integrity and independence to the limit of our means… We cannot falter in the attainment of our long-cherished Ideal. We must secure a place, however modest, in the concert of free nations.”