At home with the Manila Rotary

One of the hard things about being based in Washington, D.C. is that you miss old friends, like my fellow Rotarians at the Rotary Club of Manila.

The oldest Rotary Club in Asia, the RCM is set to celebrate its centennial year in June 2019. Members comprise some of the most prominent businessmen in the country as well as Cabinet officials like Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez.

It was certainly a pleasure to speak before the members of my own Rotary Club and the guests from other Rotary clubs, several businessmen friends as well as members of the diplomatic corps that include Israeli Ambassador Effie

Ben Matityau, Japanese Ambassador Koji Haneda, US Embassy Consul General Russel Brown and Vice Consul Tara Shaughnessy, Thai Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Urawadee Sriphiromya and Consular Corps of the Philippines dean Michael Ang.

It was also an honor to be introduced by my good friend US Ambassador Sung Kim, who said that he doesn’t really get a lot of opportunities to introduce people during speaking events — and that the last time he ever introduced anyone, it was none other than US President Donald Trump.

I spoke about the work we have been doing in Washington, D.C., engaging with various sectors as well as US legislators and Washington officials to explain the new independent foreign policy of the government to diversify friendships and alliances with other nations, which is a very pragmatic perspective especially at this time when nations need to cooperate on mutual concerns such as security, extremism and the economy.

Be that as it may, our relationship with the US will continue to be special because of the deep people-to-people ties between the two nations. Like I told the audience, the good image of Filipinos in the US makes my job as a diplomat easier. There are a lot of Filipino-Americans who are doing well all across the United States, and each one of them can be an effective ambassador because they generate positive perceptions about the country.

I told my fellow Rotarians that whether they are here or abroad, and when all is said and done, we should take pride in the words, “Ako ay Filipino and proud to be one.”

With (from left) Costa Rica Honorary Consul Fausto Preysler, Rotary Club of Manila centennial president Susing Pineda, US Ambassador Sung Kim, Amading Valdez, Ramon Arnaiz and Ricky Trinidad.

Photos by RAMON JOSEPH J. RUIZ With (from left) Ambassador Kim, Susing Pineda and Syrian Consul General Issam El-debs.

Sharing with the audience the work we have been doing in Washington, D.C.

(From left) Ambassador Tony Villamayor, Joe de Venecia, Tonyboy Cojuangco and Tony Lopa.

Joey Yujuico and lawyer Babes Oreta.

Dean of the Consular Corps of the Philippines Michael Ang and US Embassy Consul General Russel Brown.