SFA-AGR-PS072-06                                                                                                              13 June 2006

REMARKS OF THE HON. DR. ALBERTO G. ROMULO
SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

AT THE SIGNING OF THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
 ON THE DIGITIZATION OF PHILIPPINE TREATIES
Supreme Court Session Hall, 3:00 PM, 13 June 2006 

Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals 

            I am honored to have this opportunity to be with you in this chamber where landmark and seminal decisions affecting our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness have been debated and resolved.  

            Here in these hallowed chambers and amongst the wise and learned justices of this Court, I am reminded of the lives of two justices one a Filipino and the other an American icon: 

            Cesar Bengzon who was Chief Justice from 1961 to 1965 for whom I worked as one of his law clerks taught me an early lesson in humility. 

            He asked me to draft an opinion on a case assigned to him as ponente. Alas, for the self-esteem of a legal scholar manque, not a single phrase of my magnum opus appeared in the ponente’s decision. 

            But more than humility, Cesar Bengzon taught me by his life and example what integrity is all about- that when you are a public official, you cannot separate your private and family life from your public persona, that in both you must always adhere to the highest standards of honesty and integrity. 

            The other justice I most respect and admire is Oliver Wendel Holmes. Cesar Bengzon and Oliver Wendel Holmes shared a special quality. Both justices believed in writing their decisions in clear and lucid prose with brevity and economy of expression. 

            In the case of Holmes, we all know how many of his landmark dissents – Northern Securities, Lochner, Abrams and Gitlow cases among others were eventually affirmed by the court’s majority. 

            This afternoon we are gathered here for a very significant purpose.  

            A noted diplomat observed that “diplomacy is a written rather than a verbal art.” Contrary to some perceptions, diplomacy is not simply the art of conversation at dinner; it is the art of negotiating agreements in precise and ratifiable form. This is why after meetings with foreign leaders, diplomats find it useful to issue joint statements and agreed minutes; for major, formal negotiations, we sign and conclude treaties and international agreements -- which are the subject matter of the Memorandum of Agreement among our agencies.

            Throughout its history, from 1946 onwards, the Philippines has entered into some 2,000 agreements. These ranged from the very first one, the RP-US Treaty of General Relations signed by President Manuel A. Roxas and US High Commissioners Paul V. McNutt on the day our country regained its independence, to that signed in 2000 by Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. and US Ambassador Hubbard establishing the Visiting Forces Agreement. Whether the treaty’s language is precise or imprecise what has arisen are the questions of custody and when the judicial period begins and ends. 

            Agreements come in many forms and under various names – treaties, conventions, covenants, declarations, acts, exchange of notes, memorandum of agreements, among others – all concluded between States in written form and governed by international law. These deal with multifarious fields – trade liberalization, national security, extradition and mutual legal assistance, labor and migrant workers protection, investment promotions, technical and scientific cooperation, environmental protection and others. Wherever our national interests may be served, there would be Philippine diplomats and their colleagues from other government agencies working and forging agreements of cooperation with our international partners. 

            The Department of Foreign Affairs, is the official repository of treaties and international agreements entered into by the country. Under Executive Order No. 459, the negotiating of all treaties and executive agreements, or any amendment thereto, shall be coordinated with, and made only with the participation of, the Department of Foreign Affairs.  

            In the case of Aquilino Pimentel, et. al. v. Alberto Romulo, et. al,” the Supreme Court affirmed that the power to ratify is vested in the President, subject to the concurrence of the Senate. The role of the Senate, however is limited only to giving or withholding its consent, or concurrence, to the ratification. Hence, it is within the authority of the President to refuse to submit a treaty to the Senates or, having secured its consent for its ratification, refuse to ratify it.  

            This harvest of agreements, which are the fruits of your diplomats’ labors through the decades, are the embodiment of our unceasing pursuit of Philippine national interests in the international arena. These are also testaments to the abiding friendship and solidarity we share with our neighbors, our ASEAN partners, China, Japan and Korea, our allies and partners, the United States, the OIC, NAM, the European Union nations, FEALAC and the rest of the international community. 

            We at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Service Institute would like to make these agreements more accessible to the public, through the electronic medium, specially to our businessmen who may benefit from trade and investment promotion accords and avoidance of double taxation agreements, our farmers and fisher folk who may be the beneficiaries of foreign technical and development assistance, and our students and youth who may be able to tap educational and cultural exchange programs. 

            With the generosity and able assistance of the Supreme Court and the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation, we will be able to fulfill this important endeavor soonest. 

            May I close by conveying the DFA’s gratitude to Chief Justice Panganiban, Justice Antonio Carpio, who oversees this Treaty Digitization project, and to Ms. Milagros Ong, Chief, Supreme Court Library Services, who has worked on this project for some time, together with our team from the DFA Office of Legal Affairs, the FSI and Ambassadors Laurel and Alberto Pedrosa of the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation. 

            May there be many milestones like today’s MOA signing ceremony in our continuing, fruitful partnership, in our advocacy of law as a tool for reform and development as well as in furthering our country’s friendship and solidarity with the international community. END