Press Release No.: 183-03
April 21, 2003
EULOGY
OF THE HONORABLE BLAS F. OPLE,
SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
FOR AMBASSADOR MARIO I. GALMÁN
DFA Auditorium, Monday, 21 April 2003


Mr. Rufino Galmán and other Members of the Family
    of the late Ambassador Mario Galmán;
Honorable Patricia Sto. Tomás,
    Secretary of Labor;
Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps;
Mr. Abhik Gosh and other Distinguished Officials
    of the International  Labor Organization;
Honorable Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries,
    Heads of Office, and Colleagues in the Department;
Co-workers in Government;
Friends:

I share your grief.   For  Ambassador Mario Galmán was a fellow Bulakeño,  a colleague,  and a dear friend.  He  and I shared a love for the same things—like books, writing, the labor movement,  and foreign relations.

It is difficult to lose anything of value.  The grief is more intense when we lose someone  we love.  This loss is even more painful if it is difficult to understand.  It is not easy to accept that Mario should die young.  He turned only fifty-five two weeks ago, two days before he died.

Calling on me during the Christmas season, he gave me a book.  We met again shortly afterwards, at the airport.  I was leaving for a meeting abroad.  He was also leaving.  We bade each other a happy trip. That was the last time we met. He must have known—or felt—then that he had a terrible illness.  But he hardly spoke about it.  In fact, he looked well. 

Only a few weeks ago, he faxed me a letter urging me to attend the proclamation of the 9th of April, our Araw ng Kagitingan,  as Filipino-American Friendship Day by the City of Kissimmee in Florida.  It was also his birthday.  He added in his handwriting a note in Filipino,  thanking me for “all the support” I had given him.

I faxed my speech for that occasion to Washington, with a request that it be read by Ambassador Albert del Rosario, I mentioned that DFA was also being represented by Ambassador Galmán.  

Mario was not only young.  He was also in the peak of his diplomatic career.   Before I became Foreign Secretary, I seldom recommended  a non-career man for appointment in the Foreign Service. Mario was one of the few exceptions.   I was sure that I would not regret my recommendation.

As Ambassador in Vientiane,  Mario invigorated the friendship and cooperation of the Philippines and Laos. He shared with Laotians our history, culture, and art.  He initiated the Balik Laos  program, encouraging visits of Filipinos who had worked there with Operation Brotherhood  from 1957 to 1975.  Promoting tourism and investments, he worked for a 90 million US dollar investment agreement for food production and technology between the Laotian government and a Filipino entrepreneur.

Mario’s preparation for his appointment as Ambassador was thorough. He had developed, through good use, his many talents.  He earned a rich treasury of experience. 
 
He was a writer.  With a keen social sense, he wrote on labor issues.  He authored several books--including an unpublished history of his hometown Paombong, near my town Hagonoy.  His articles appeared in Newsweek, International Herald Tribune, Asiaweek, Far Eastern Review,  and other periodicals here and abroad. 

As a journalist,  he was a correspondent for United Press International and did broadcast work for Radio Veritas.

Mario was also very much involved with labor affairs. A labor leader, he was a stalwart of the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions (PAFLU)  and of the Pambansang Kilusan ng Paggawa-TUCP.

In the international labor community, Mario served with distinction in the Manila Office of the International Labor Organization. At various times, he was Acting Deputy Director and spokesman for this Office.  He was also chairman for Asia and the Pacific of the ILO Staff Union, as well as vice chairman for Asia and the Pacific of the Confederation of U.N. Staff Associations.  Even within a labor organization, he was an untiring union leader.

He successfully negotiated foreign assistance for numerous Philippine development projects, benefiting workers and employers, as well as the government.

Ambassador Galmán faced a challenging  task in Laos, a new ASEAN member country rich in history and culture,  striving for  greater development after its own experience of conflict and recovery. 

But he had met challenges in the past  and he had succeeded with honors.  He was doing very well in Vientiane.  His colleagues in the Department knew that he could do even more.  I was sure of this.

But unexpectedly,  under circumstances that puzzle the loving mind, God called him.

This is difficult to understand. For pain has always been difficult to understand.  This was the complaint of Job, the holy man of the Scriptures, who loved and served God well.

Mario himself was a man of deep Faith.  Loving God, he served others—farmers, seafarers, working men—with great compassion.  Employers, officials of government, and diplomats  remain edified by his amiability, his integrity, his dignity.

Although difficult to comprehend, Christ himself felt pain on the Mount of Olives and on Calvary.  Christ’s disciples seemed scandalized by His suffering.  But He insisted on it.  For He knew
that  He must die—in order to live again.

We know that Ambassador Galmán, who was on the path of career  growth,  died in the service of God, country,  and people.  He died to achieve that ultimate advancement which all of us, regardless of  nationality, age,  and rank, prepare for with great resolution.  In the ultimate reckoning, we  are judged for our fidelity to our stewardship.

We can be sure that Ambassador Galmán is now receiving his well-deserved rewards.

I am glad to have recommended him for the position of Ambassador.  As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I know that we have lost an excellent man.  I grieve with all of you.  But I know, as  you know,  that Mario continues to live in our memories, in our admiration,  in our love.

Until a few days ago Mario was our Ambassador to Laos.  Now, he is one of our people’s envoys in heaven.  In the Lord, Mario lives forever.