Thank you for inviting me to speak before you tonight. I see a lot of old friends, many from way back when times were different, when the world had not yet shrunk so much.
Media is an old friend. I want to renew that friendship and I would like to start with you, the distinguished members of Asia’s most venerable overseas press club.
I want to give a special greeting to brother Max. Next to the President, he has much to do with my being Secretary of Foreign Affairs and of course being here.
If you have read his columns lately, you would understand what I mean. In one of these columns, this is what brother Max wrote (I am blushing) "Bert Romulo would be equally, if not more, effective as Secretary of Foreign Affairs...
The President who hardly misses Max’s columns, promptly took the cue and, here I am — a brand new foreign secretary — 24th in the line from my illustrious predecessor no less than the sublime paralytic – Apolinario Mabini.
Last month in Cebu, the Malacañang South, in announcing my appointment, the President referred to my moving from Executive Secretary to Secretary of Foreign Affairs as from a "domestic helper, he is now an OFW."
Which reminds me there is a difference between domestic and foreign policies.
"One can always survive a domestic policy mistake," said John F. Kennedy "but not a mistake in foreign policy."
It is thus reassuring to know that in the latest nationwide survey, Filipinos have generally been satisfied with the government’s handling of foreign relations, except in that sad instance in 1995 — the Flor Contemplacion case.
But we’ve bounced back. And we’ve shown our mettle by saving the life of Angelo Dela Cruz. The whole world was watching and the whole world saw how we held our heads high. We knew what we had to do.
Tonight, I shall try to clarify what guides us to decide and act in the international arena. But before I begin, let me make some comments on the world we live in.
It took five months to get word back to Queen Isabella about the voyage of Columbus; two weeks for Europe to hear about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination; but only 1.3 seconds to get the word to us earthlings from Neil Amstrong who walked on the moon.
It is a world that demands every minute of our attention. it is an interdependent world that requires us to anticipate developments and act without delay.
It is a fast-paced world that calls on us to have a clear idea of where we see ourselves and how we hope to engage others.
It is a world where there are over 7 million Filipinos in other lands – 10 percent of our total population. We may not be a global power, but we have a global presence.
In such a world, our foreign policy is called upon to push back the cords of conflict and pull in the lines of cooperation and opportunity. I know fully well that the road to peace is no donnybrook.
From the Philippine Constitution, we are guided by its provisions on foreign policy, particularly those in Article II, Section 7, to pursue an independent foreign policy with paramount consideration given to national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interst and right to self determination.
In the pursuit of these lofty and noble goals, we will neither falter nor flinch. We work with others in this interdependent world as we pursue, our national interest with vigor and resolve.
One, the preservation and enhancement of national security, which is at the heart of our political diplomacy;
Two, the promotion and attainment of economic security through the mobilization of external resources for economic advancement and social development; and
Three, the protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare and interests of Filipinos overseas.
These pillars interlink and cannot be considered apart from each other. They reinforce each other and give substantive content to our foreign relations.
First reality: China, Japan and the United States have a determining influence in the security situation and economic evolution of East Asia.
Second reality: More and more Philippine foreign policy decisions have to be made in the context of the ASEAN.
Third reality: The International Islamic Community will become more and more important to the Philippines.
Fourth reality: The coming years will see the redefinition of the role of multilateral and inter-regional organizations in promoting common interest.
Fifth reality: The defense of the nation’s soveriegnty, the protection of its environment, and natural resources can be carried out only to the extent that we get others to respect our rights over our maritime territory.
Sixth reality: The country’s economic growth will continue to require direct foreign investment — and relations with the EU, the largest source of portfolio investments — will remain important.
Seventh reality: A country like the Philippines can benefit most quickly from international tourism.
Eighth reality: Filipinos overseas will continue to play a critical role in the country’s economic and social stability.
These realities simply remind us that the era of living "in splendid isolation" is forever gone.
"There is nothing more dangerous," Anthony Eden said, "than a foreign policy based on unreality."
In a world where reality and perception meet at the nexus of electronic and information highways, this admonition is even truer today.
In the Middle East alone, we have one and a half million of our countrymen, bigger than most standing armies and larger than the population of Pampanga or Bulacan.
In saving Angelo Dela Cruz, two seemingly, clashing interests were tested: the reality of our close relations with the United States and the need to extend the full mantle of protection to our overseas Filipinos.
This is not to say that there was no disagreement. As friends, we voiced our dissent in words and ways that could place no doubt as to our respective principles. But as friends, our relationship was marked by our common desire to see our differences resolved.
The strategic partnership with America is on track and we look forward to stronger ties.
The common interests of the Philippines and the US bind us to protect and help preserve the peace and security of our region. We are strategic and treaty partners. Our economic are deeply engaged. There are over 2 million Filipinos in the United States.
The bonds of friendship between the Philippines and the United States are enduring and byond temporary setback. Those bonds have been forged in the battlefields of freedom, in the foxholes of Bataan and Corregidor, by thousands of brave and courageous soldiers who fought and died together for their beliefs and ideals.
Our shared values define our partnership: democracy and the rule of law; tolerance and plurality, market economy and the war against terror.
We are deeply engaged with China and Japan, together with ASEAN to build greater confidence and consolidate even greater stability in our region. We are engaged with both countries for trade, investments as well as tourism.
ASEAN and China have taken the lead in reducing tensions in the South China Sea, preservng critical routes for oil and goods. In the meantime, ASEAN continues to build its security, economic and social communities, based on a prospective free trade zone in East Asia.
Our engagement with our allies brings renewed hopes for peace in Mindanao. Our ties with the OIC has isolated would — be secessionists.
The US, Japan, the EU and the multilateral organizations provide important economic support for post-conflict activities.
Malaysia is facilitating dialogue across the negotiating table, and together with Brunei, Libya, Bahrain and others, will be helping to monitor the peace.
In the United Nations, as a non-permanent member of the Security Council we are helping preserve the peace and security of mankind. We are also helping heal the divisions on Iraq and helped strengthen multilateralism and the rule of law.
I go to New York soon to reiterate our support for the United Nations and its continuing importance to the world and to the Philippines. I will also meet with my counterparts and with the Secretary General, always, with our foreign policy realities in mind.
With over 7 million Filipinos overseas in almost every part of the world, and with our economies increasingly becoming interlinked, world peace and global stability are no longer political abstractions.
Foreign policy has substance if it brings change that is relevant. Foreign policy is most relevant when it works for the people. It is most relevant when it is shorn of its mystique and is better understood.
And when it is better understood, when there is greater national support and consensus behind it, foreign policy is at its most effective and beneficial.
Our overwhelming mandate will be our national interest. Placing national interest above all means there will be times we will have to temper the warmth of traditional alliances and stoke the embers of new alignments.
A careful and calibrated balance between a state’s independence and the need to live in an inter-dependent world is required. This need is even greater in today’s borderless and increasingly integrated world.
To quote Lord Palmerston, leader of the liberal party in Victorian England: "A wise government in its home policy considers the reasonable wants of the people; in its foreign policy it is prepared to resist the unjust demands and the unreasonable views of foreign powers."
We will work with all nations in the common pursuit of peace and progress as well as the promotion of human and migrant rights.
We will place a high value on cooperation and comity. Unjust demands and unreasonable views will be resisted.
National interest will always prevail.