LAST week my hometown Baler played host to the country’s 13th celebration of Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day on June 30.
The day officially commemorates General Emilio Aguinaldo’s decree that the Los Ultimos de Filipinas—the Spanish soldiers who fought the katipuneros and were besieged inside the Baler Church by the katipuneros—be treated as friends rather than prisoners. They were given safe passage back home to Spain, where they were received as heroes.
On the other hand, Aguinaldo demonstrated civility and magnanimity in a time of conflict. Such moment in history is worth celebrating—where there was no victor or loser.
The Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act, the law I authored and sponsored in the Senate (Republic Act [RA] 9187), had helped rekindle relations between the Philippines and Spain, and deepen bilateral cooperation on trade, tourism, investments and development aid.
The Spanish Parliament reciprocated by passing a Resolution of Gratitude and Friendship to the Philippines.
After RA 9187 was enacted, the Spanish Senate and the Philippine Senate agreed to exchange regular parliamentary visits to discuss topics of mutual interest. The most recent was in January where the Spanish Parliament’s Commission on Foreign Affairs paid its first visit to the Philippines, meeting high-ranking officials, such as Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
In education, we entered into academic exchange agreements with different universities in Madrid and the Basque Country. And Spanish was reintroduced in 2010 in the high-school curriculum under the Special Program in Foreign Languages. Under the program, almost 100 teachers from public high schools have undergone intensive Spanish-language training at the Instituto Cervantes.
During last week’s celebration in Baler, Spanish Ambassador Luis Antonio Calvo said that up to 8,000 students across 80 high schools in 17 regions are participating in this program today. There are now five centers of excellence around the country where up to 200 Filipino teachers are being trained as trainers for future Spanish-language instructors.
Such a critical mass of Spanish-speakers opens up our thriving contact-center industry and other industries to the Spanish-speaking world, covering 31 countries and up to 399 million people, and to their world of arts and literature.
Yet, the biggest windfall to the rekindling of Philippine-Spanish ties may come from trade. In 2007 nine bilateral agreements on economic and cultural cooperation were signed, including one earmarking up to P9.2 billion worth of investments in the Philippines.
Last year the European Parliament approved the Philippines’s inclusion in the European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which allows the Philippines to export some 6,200 products—including fruits, coconut oil, fish and textiles—to EU countries at zero tariffs. Some estimate that within the first year of GSP+ implementation, Philippine exports to the EU could increase by up to P32.5 billion, translating to as much as 267,000 jobs.
We would not have clinched such a clear boost to our national drive for inclusive growth if it weren’t for Spanish MEPs who provided the winning margin to the Philippines’s bid.
These positive developments (and more) may not have happened if Philippine-Spanish relations were not reinvigorated. In fact, many points of collaboration have yet to be pursued actively, such as tourism, sports development, design and construction, and transportation and power.
Clearly, opportunities (and challenges) abound for each. And just as it was during the days of the Galleons, the Philippines and Spain could again be the lynchpins of global trade.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.