Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At a luncheon hosted by President Oscar Scalfaro of Italy on his official visit to Italy

[Delivered at the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, September 9, 1994]

From friendship
to partnership

IT IS FITTING that in our journey to Europe, our first stop should be here in Italy, which spread civilization in Europe, not once but twice. First, during the time of the Roman Empire, when Rome was the capital of classical glory. And then again during the Dark Ages, when Italian creativity and dynamism carried the Renaissance from Rome all the way to Moscow.

Visiting your country, Mr. President, I can understand why Samuel Johnson was moved to declare that “any man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority.”

Kinship with Italy

And yet it is not as a stranger that I visit your country, Mr. President.

Our two peoples and governments look back to nearly half a century of diplomatic relations between them, and much, much longer in terms of contact and cultural exchange.

Immediately after the Second World War and just a year after our recovery of independence on July 4,1946, we established diplomatic relations on July 9, 1947—relations which over the past 47 years have grown in strength and meaning.

But our sense of kinship stretches much farther back into the past. After discovery by Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521, the Philippines became and remains today the only predominantly Catholic country in the Orient. Similarly, it was the European Renaissance and Enlightenment that fed our people’s aspirations to nationhood, which we first attained on June 12, 1898.

Remarkably also, Italy and the Philippines are so demographically and geographically alike, it is uncanny. You live in a land area of 116,300 square miles; we thrive on a space of 115,800 miles

Italy has a population of 58 million; there are 65 million Filipinos today. There was a time when Italy was more populous than the Philippines. But on this matter, at least, you have to do a lot of catching up with us.

Shared democratic ideals

And then there is our ardent and shared belief in democratic principles.

Mr. President, we do not forget that in March 1986, just after the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in February 1986, the Honorable Bruno Corti, then Italy’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, visited Manila to show Italy’s support for the rebirth of our democracy and the accession of the Government of President Corazón Aquino.

That was an exciting and promising time for our country, but it was also a difficult time of transition. Traditional as well as new forces sought to reverse or divert the directions of the nation. As some of you will no doubt still remember, seven coup attempts were made against the Aquino Administration, and seven times we repelled the challenge.

In each of those times, our constitutional Government got the steadfast support of the Italian Government. Indeed, in September 1987—just a few weeks after the August 1987 coup attempt which nearly toppled the Aquino Government—the Honorable Gilberto Bonalumi, then your Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, visited Manila to reaffirm Italy’s support for Philippine democracy.

A new time in the Philippines

Mr. President, things are much more quiet in Manila these days. The frustrated mutinies and coups are now but a bad memory. There is still much excitement in our country, but it is excitement of another kind—the excitement of nation building, of global enterprise, of modernization.

Almost miraculously, from the country that was always in the world news because of the chronic coups and political violence, the Philippines is being talked about today for its economic dynamism and political stability.

We are back on the map of investors, traders and tourists. We are no longer the sick man in the most dynamic growth region in the world today—East Asia.

And we have accomplished this feat, not at the expense of our democracy, but through democratic initiative, debate and consensus. We are making democracy work in the Philippines, in much the same way that it is working here in Italy.

Toward partnership

This dramatic and promising change is the reason for our journey to Italy—and Europe—at this time.

When the Philippines was at its darkest hour, Italy, unbidden, came as a friend to offer help. Now that the clouds have cleared, Mr. President, and we are seeing the dawn of a new day, we ask you, our friends, to come and visit with us again.

Such a visit would be worthwhile even if only to see for yourself how the republic you supported has survived and become one of Asia’s most stable and thriving democracies today.

But there is even more for us to explore and build today. Italy can take part in the economic modernization of the Philippines, but partaking of the vast opportunities for trade and investment that have opened up.

Besides meeting therefore with the officials of your Government, Mr. President, I hope also to meet leaders of your business community.

Between our two countries, there already exist economic and political ties that are strong and meaningful, and it is part of our relationship that thousands of Filipinos are living and working in Italy today. We thank you for your hospitality to them.

But there is much, much more we can build between us—now that the Philippines has the capability and momentum to approximate Italy’s vigor and enterprise.

Mr. President, we have the opportunity to forge a new partnership that will redound to the lasting benefit of our countries and our peoples.

You have always been our dependable friends. Let us now be partners in the future of the Philippines and the entire Asia-Pacific region.