Moments of diplomatic significance
As of this writing, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was scheduled to speak at the joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate at the Batasan Pambansa.
This paper’s editorial yesterday, Nov. 4, pointed out that the Japanese Premier’s address is “historically significant” as “this is the first time a leader of Japan addresses the Philippine Congress since after World War II.” The editorial explained that “it is proof that the bilateral relations between the two countries have matured from more than just its economic and political foundations, but also to its more cultural and historical aspects.”
Indeed, Japan remains as our country’s largest source of official development assistance (ODA) and a major partner of the Philippines in infrastructure development, renewable energy, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, education, and public health enhancement.
Prime Minister Kishida is the sixth foreign head of state to address the Philippine Congress, the first being U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower on June 15, 1960 at the then Legislative Building in Manila.
The “Grand Old Man” of Philippine politics, Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez, was then the Senate President and the Speaker of the House was Daniel Romualdez, an uncle of current Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
We were then Manila bureau chief of the Pan-asia Newspaper Alliance, the first Asian news agency, and wrote a Pan-asia column on Asian affairs, printed once a week in the old Philippines Herald.
Incidentally, many years later and on our humble invitation as Speaker of the House, four foreign leaders addressed the joint session of Philippine Congress: U.S. President George W. Bush on October 18, 2003; Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on April 18, 2005; Chinese President Hu Jintao on April 27, 2005; and Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on February 6, 2006.
We also remember with gratitude the honor of being received twice by then Emperor Akihito and his lady, Empress Michiko, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, first in the early 1990s and again in 2006, during our first and fourth terms, respectively, as Speaker of the House. We also had the privilege of conferring with Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi, as well as other Japanese political leaders. The political parties of Japan are members of ICAPP, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, of which we are the founder and now serves as chairman emeritus.
We are pleased to note that as Speaker, we initiated and instituted the Congressional Medal of Achievement in 2002 to “honor political, economic and cultural leaders who have distinguished themselves through their life-work and vision” and who have contributed to enriching relations with the Philippines and Asia.
We believe that exemplary leaders, both here in the Philippines and in the international community “deserve honor and recognition, so that they may serve as models and inspiration to others and especially among the young.”
Among the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Achievement are Presidents Nelson Mandela of South Africa, George W. Bush of the U.S., Hu of China, Musharraf of Pakistan, Kalam of India; Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe of Japan, Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Wilfred Martens of Belgium, Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway; and Senate President Pier Ferdinando Casini of Italy.
The Philippines-japan Parliamentarians’ Friendship Society, which was established to strengthen parliamentary cooperation between our lawmaking bodies, can augment the efforts of our two governments in addressing common issues and challenges as well as in pursuing peace, security, and development in Asia and the international community.