DEFENDING WHAT IS LEGITIMATELY OURS. I am delighted to be reconnected with no less than The Honorable Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario as he was the guest-of-honor and speaker at the JCI Week General Membership Meeting of JCI Manila. I have first met the good secretary way back in 1998 when he was still in the private sector as head of his very successful insurance and risk management consulting business, during a reunion of past presidents of Junior Chamber International (JCI) Manila. Since then, I have been with him in numerous occasions, particularly as a subject profile of an article I was writing about, as 2007 TOYM Chairman of the Board of Judges, and as an esteemed guest during our grand fellowship of JCI Senators when I was still President of JCI Senate Manila in 2011. In every fortuity and circumstance, the good Secretary has exuded an enigmatic mix of a gentle and steady demeanor, under a respectable but authoritative persona. His commanding leadership has again been made manifest when he regaled the hundred-member audience with his public diplomacy efforts to educate his fellow colleagues in JCI Manila about the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue. He began his talk by introducing the students to the three pillars of Philippine Foreign Policy, namely: the preservation of national security, enhancement of economic diplomacy, and the protection of Filipinos overseas. He pointed out that defending the national territory falls under the first pillar. The good Secretary then explained the full extent of Philippine territory, emphasizing the inclusion of the maritime zones defined by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He focused his discussion on China’s claims over Recto Bank and Bajo de Masinloc and maintained that China’s expansive nine-dash line claim has no basis in international law. Secretary Del Rosario emphasized the mandate from President Benigno S. Aquino III to pursue a peaceful resolution to the dispute. Reiterating the governments official stance, he said, “We are, in fact, committed to undertake all that is possible to cultivate positive relations with China in spite of this issue in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.” In his thirty-minute speech, JCI Manila members were likewise enlightened about the political, diplomatic and legal tracks that constitute the Philippines’ rules-based approach to the issue. This special occasion was made all the more pleasant with the presence of many good, old friends and colleagues from JCI Manila.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 20:47:15 +0000
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