24 October 2021
I am honored to extend warmest greetings to the people of the Lebanese Republic as we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and Lebanon.
The Lebanese Republic is one of the Philippines' oldest friends and trusted partners in the Middle East. Our formal ties were established in 1946 immediately after Philippine independence from the United States. This was three years after Lebanon’s independence from French rule, owed in part to General Charles de Gaulle, whose Memoirs of War ranks higher as true history and pure literature than Caesar’s Gallic Wars.
Situated in the corridors of the Pacific and the Mediterranean Filipinos and Lebanese have in common the adventurous, wayfaring, and adaptive spirit that sees the ocean not as a divide but a bridge to new places and fresh opportunities. With our shared hankering for adventure, our people-to-people exchanges have remained our strongest connection.
Decades ago, Lebanese émigré families traveled to our shores, and soon distinguished themselves in their respective fields in Philippine society. They came when Lebanon was called Assyria, part of the great Ottoman Empire that brought centuries of religious tolerance, productive peace and widely shared prosperity to all its varied peoples.
Lebanese were the first serious Philippine industrialists and businessmen: Ysmael of Ysmael Steel; Ysrael, Bichara in politics, Kairuz where we got our white and khaki school uniforms and bicycles; Awad my very propertied neighbor; Caram, a familiar name; Khodr, Ghorayab, Abraham Fakhry, Nassr, the Assads father and son, honorary consuls for Lebanon; Sassin, Borgeily, Massab, Jureidini, Hashim, Joseph my friends in the wine business; Salman my classmate and friend; the talented and beautiful actress Dawn Zulueta Lagdameo is a Salman and played Catherine Earnshaw in Sputnik Siguion-Reyna’s take on Wuthering Heights; Moises, and last but not least the much loved Kanaans, my parents’ neighbors and dear, dear friends; almost foster parents to me.
About 6,000 miles away, more than 30,000 Filipinos have easily integrated into Lebanese culture and society and continue to make positive contributions to Lebanon’s development. In the diaspora of Filipinos and Lebanese worldwide, we see their undeniably strong bond to their respective motherlands even as they embrace their adoptive countries with affection and understanding.
We lost our former Ambassador to Lebanon, Bernie Catalla, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. While serving in Beirut, she was afire with joy, dedication to duty, and boundless optimism. From her ready smile, one could tell that she loved her post in Lebanon. And she was loved in return by Filipinos and Lebanese. She was one of our best, and gone too soon. I miss her personally; we had a heart to heart talk in my office, before she stoutly returned to her post to keep her appointment with death in Samara, to borrow the title of John O’Hara’s best novel. I had the painful honor to meet her remains at the airport when she returned. I cannot forebear to condole with her family for their loss and DFA’s. She was married to this great institution I am honored to lead.
In the long lines of repatriated Filipinos I received at the Manila international airport after the terrible explosion at the port, I was drawn to a half-Filipino, half-Lebanese family and their little girl. Her eyes spoke volumes of the loss they witnessed; but her smile shined bright with the courage common to Lebanese and Filipinos in adversity.
From where we stand as a people, as a nation, we extend our wholehearted goodwill to the Lebanese Republic and people, including those you have welcomed into your lands – 1.5 million displaced Syrians and about half a million Palestinians dispossessed by war. Whatever challenges we face as a country we will overcome them with steadfast cooperation and support.
I look forward to working closely with His Excellency Abdallah Воu Habib, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Lebanese Republic, to build upon our heartfelt partnership and to work for peace and prosperity for our peoples, as we mark this milestone in our bilateral relations. Again, my best wishes to the people and Government of the Lebanese Republic. Long live Lebanon; may its cedars stand tall and evergreen. Shukran.
WATCH: Remarks of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. on the 75th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of the Philippines and the Lebanese Republic
