Saigon years: Friendship, duty, and destiny

Vietnam was where destiny first called us to the front-lines of international relations. We were barely 30, serving as Presidential Assistant and, at the same time, Economic and Press Counselor at the Philippine Embassy in Saigon from 1966 to 1969. It was a turbulent time. America's war in Vietnam was raging, and yet in the middle of the turmoil, bonds of friendship and seeds of diplomacy were quietly being sown.

- PEACE-MAKER JOSE DE VENECIA JR. FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

It was in Saigon, in 1967, where we launched what became one of the most enduring economic initiatives of our country — the Dollar Remittance Program for overseas Filipino workers. What began as a modest experiment to encourage Filipinos abroad to send hard currency home has since blossomed into a lifeline of more than $30 billion a year for our economy, sustaining families and strengthening our Bangko Sentral's reserves.

But Saigon gave us more than just economic innovation. It was there that we welcomed the arrival of the Philippine Civic Action Group (Philcag), our contribution to the allied effort. Their mission was not combat but compassion — building roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals in Tay Ninh province, close to the Cambodian border. Shielded by a security battalion, our engineers and medics nonetheless won the trust of the Vietnamese people, who came to regard them not as soldiers but as friends.