A consequential trip to Washington

BABE'S EYE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

- AMBASSADOR B. ROMUALDEZ

Next year, we will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of our diplomatic ties with the United States — a significant milestone that underscores the special bond and the close relationship between the two countries since the appointment of Resident Commissioners of the Philippines to the US House of Representatives, among them Manuel L. Quezon who, before becoming president, served as Resident Commissioner for seven years from 1909 to 1916.

Arriving in Washington, DC in the early winter of December 1909, the Spanish-speaking Quezon took it upon himself to learn the English language in order to articulate and best represent the interests of the Philippines before members of the US Congress — working for the passage of the Jones Act (also called the Philippine Autonomy Act) in 1916 that established a bicameral legislature and gave greater autonomy to the Philippines with the promise of independence.

On July 4, 1946, the Philippines finally became "a separate and governing nation," in the words of Paul V. McNutt, the first US Ambassador to the Philippines. As Ambassador McNutt lowered the American flag, President Manuel Quezon raised our own amid the deafening shouts of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who were in Luneta to watch history unfold. That same day also marked the beginning of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Philippines.

Since then, relations between the two nations have remained strong and resilient, consecrated on the battlefield and shaped by our shared history and experiences. Both freedom-loving and democratic nations that abide by the rule of law, the special friendship between the US and the Philippines is underpinned by deep people-to-people ties.