Honorable Senator Edgardo Angara,
Distinguished Guests from the Embassy of Spain, headed by Minister-Counselor Javier Gonzales,
Honorable Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, Governor of Aurora Province,
Honorable Arturo Angara, Mayor of Baler,
Honorable Ludovico Badoy, Executive Director of the National Historical Institute,
His Excellency, Bishop Rolando Tria Tirona,

Ladies and gentlemen:

I am pleased to extend my greetings to all the participants of the celebration in Baler of Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day. I wish to thank and congratulate all the agencies, institutions, and individuals who have made the celebration this year a successful one.

Republic Act No. 9187, initiated and authored by Senator Edgardo Angara and signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003, proclaimed June 30 each year as Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.  It was the day in 1899 that President Emilio Aguinaldo signed a decree declaring as friends, not prisoners of war, the Spanish soldiers who surrendered to the Filipino soldiers after the long siege, of almost a year, of the Baler church where the Spaniards held out.  The same decree granted the Spanish soldiers safe conduct to return to Spain.

President Aguinaldo extended to the Spanish soldiers a brotherly appreciation of their loyalty and gallantry in defense of a universal code of honor and demonstrated to the world the magnanimity of the Filipino heart even after a long period of enmity and conflict. The soldiers reciprocated with expressions of gratitude for the hospitality and generosity of the Filipinos. As observed in Republic Act 9187, the act of benevolence of Filipinos in Baler paved the way for better relations between the Philippines and Spain.

Now that by hindsight we are better able to make an objective assessment of the Spanish legacy in the Philippines, we can without much difficulty explain the events in Baler. That legacy has made brothers of Filipinos and Spaniards. And, in the memorable conclusion of the historian Encarnacion Alzona, “the separation of Spain and the Philippines in 1898 was only political. The spiritual ties established between them … cannot be erased by a mere political event.”

It is true that the Philippines has the distinction of being the only former Spanish colony that is not predominantly Spanish-speaking. This was due to the policy of colonizers in the Philippines to learn the local languages rather than impose Spanish as the language of the colony. But still a third of the Philippine national language is composed of Spanish loan words. Other Philippine languages and dialects also incorporate numerous Spanish words. And furthermore still, most of our names are Spanish as well as those of places in the country.

More substantively, the Spanish influence is very much in evidence on our tables as we relish dishes such as arroz a la Valenciana, relleno, menudo, mechado, chorizo, torta, tortilla, paella, puchero, embutido, estofado, tocino, turon, and leche flan, which we all know and call Philippine food.

The influence of Spain can also be abundantly found in the arts. It can be discerned in the works of artists like Damian Domingo and Juan Luna. While the rhythms may be more languid, the familiar folk dances of the Philippines like the Pandanggo, Kurratsa, and the Habanera, have Hispanic roots. Elements of the Spanish legacy may be found in the development of Philippine literature and theatre, with the corrido and awit, the comedia and the zarzuela influenced by Spanish literary and theatrical forms.

The Spaniards also contributed significantly to Philippine architecture, being the first to put up edifices made of brick, stone and volcanic tufa or adobe. Churches constructed in the style that became known as “earthquake baroque” are found in various places in the Philippines and several of them have been recognized as UNESCO heritage sites.

Spanish missionaries were responsible for bringing to the Philippines the benefits of Western medicine and science, building the first clinics and hospitals, among them, the San Juan de Dios which exists to this day. They started schools and colleges, like the University of Santo Tomas, the first and oldest university in Asia, and the Ateneo de Manila.

The Spanish influence extended into the present-day political and legal structure of the Philippines. The Spaniards were responsible for organizing the Philippines into provinces, towns, provincial capitals and, of course, the location of the national capital in Manila.

The Spanish legacy also includes the beginnings of the Philippine economy.  It was the Spaniards who started the construction industry with the quarrying of stone, adobe and marble. They introduced animal husbandry and made industries of the cultivation of agricultural products like tobacco, sugar, cotton, abaca, cinnamon, and pepper. They established factories that produced silk, porcelain, hemp, linen and cotton.  They also brought banking to the Philippines.

But what the Filipinos agree to be the most important contribution of Spain in the Philippines was the introduction of Christianity. Christian values complemented and reinforced the positive Filipino traits: love of family, self-sacrifice, helpfulness, generosity, excellence at work, optimism and prayerfulness.  Christianity also influenced the yearly cycle of our holidays and feasts, some of which have developed into great, colorful festivals unique to our culture which attract tourists, such as the Ati-atihan, Moriones and Pahiyas.

All these are but a sampling of the pervasive influences of Spain in the history and life of the Filipino nation. These influences constitute a strong bond for the partnership between the Philippines and Spain presaged by the events in Baler in 1899. It is that of a partnership between two sovereign nations founded on mutual respect and common traditions and values. It is today a partnership between two countries committed to the ideals of freedom, democracy, and human rights.

The reinvigoration of Philippines-Spain relations has followed the emergence in the world scene of the European Union as an increasingly cohesive grouping of advanced countries and of ASEAN as the fastest-growing region. These two regions have recognized the value of cooperating with each other and have in fact organized themselves into the Asia Europe Meeting.

This celebration is an indication of the desire of the Philippines to strengthen its ties with Spain and Europe. For its part, Spain, parallel to the European Union, has declared it her policy to pay greater attention to its ties with Southeast Asia. Naturally for Spain, this should start with its former colony, the Philippines.

Spain has thus been very supportive of the economic development efforts of the country; its Official Development Assistance program in the Philippines is its biggest in Asia.

Today, relations between the Philippines and Spain have been closer then ever, with cooperation strengthened in many areas and at all levels, bilateral as well as multilateral.

At the multilateral level, the Philippines and Spain have often supported each other, such as on candidatures in international organizations, including the United Nations.  Recently, with Philippine support, Spain was chosen to host the World Expo in 2008.

The Philippines and Spain have renewed their 1947 Treaty of Friendship, expanding it to a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in the year 2000.  Our countries have forged agreements on the areas of culture, transportation, tourism, investments, social security, financial cooperation, political cooperation and technical cooperation.   We look forward to further cooperation on culture, energy and tourism.  We also have great expectations for our relations with the launching of the Philippine-Spain Cultural Year in Barcelona next year by Casa Asia, and the launching of the Foro Hispano-Filipino in the two countries.

Indeed, we can only be quite positive about the future of Philippines-Spain relations, about the friendship between the Philippines and Spain enduring and becoming even stronger in the future.  As the slogan of the celebration has aptly captured, La Amistad Duradera Entre Filipinas y España.

Mabuhay ang pagkakaibigan ng Pilipinas at Espanya!

Viva la amistad Filipina-Hispana!   END
 

/jay