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INTERVIEW WITH AMB. VICTORIA S. BATACLAN
(Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and the Luxembourg and Head of the Philippine Mission to the European
Union)
Brussels, Belgium
11 September 2014
Faith Bombase (FB):
Ma’am, good afternoon po and thank you for giving us your time for this
interview. Ma’am, ang aking pong first question, President Aquino will be
embarking on his first working visit to the Kingdom of Belgium. Could you tell
us ano po ba ang significance ng visit na ito ng ating Presidente?
Amb. Virginia Bataclan:
Salamat, Faith, thank you for this opportunity to share our thoughts. The
President is coming here, as you said, for his first working visit, well, it’s really
to cement our relations with this beautiful country, the Kingdom of Belgium
and of course, with the European Union. You see Jose Rizal in our background,
and I wanna start with that for the sort of basis on the linkage because Jose
Rizal was here in Belgium. He published his Fili, El Filibusterismo was published
in Belgium and therefore in Ghent in particular and the shared values of
reforms and democracy and justice for citizens have always been part of our
democratic tradition and Jose Rizal, I think started. I think he is the first OFW in
fact in this part of the world. And therefore those values which became the
basis of our very good relations with Belgium and the European Union have
strengthened those relations. We’re celebrating, no not a hundred,but fifty
years of our relations with the European Union and with Belgium I think we
mark our 63rd year. And because of the shared values of love, freedom, fighting
for democracy, for justice, these relations have grown steadily over the years.
The President is coming to cement those relations. It is very important that the
President meets his counterparts, the European Union and also with Belgium, I
mean His Majesty the King of Belgium and the Prime Minister, of course, of
Belgium. And of course necessarily there are some 10,000 Filipinos in Belgium,
not all of them will be here, but I can assure you we will fill up the cathedral
where he is gonna meet them. And therefore we look at this visit as really a
visit to our friends in the continent and the European Union for their 28member states and they’re all united in the European Union construction that I
have worked over the years. So yeah, that’s half a million…not half a million, a
million Filipinos in Europe and they will be represented by some 10,000 of
them who are here, so, and Luxembourg too where at least this Embassy is
accredited too. So yes, to cement the relationship, to recall the common
values and based on these values to build upon for increased trade, increased
investment, may be increased exchange of scholars and researchers and of
course to talk about what Filipinos here. They’ve been here for over 40 years,
you know pioneers, and about their role how they can continue to contribute
of course for the welfare of their families back home. I am sure they’ll be very
eager to listen first hand from the President 9the good news coming from the
country. Thank you.
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FB:
Could you briefly discuss to us the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
between the EC and the Philippine government. Could you give us an update
so far?
Amb. Bataclan:
Alright. Fifty years ago we established our diplomatic relations with the then
European Commission. And as you know these countries have built up their
Union over the years and in Lisbon, the so-called Lisbon Treaty they further
head more integration in their economic life and they thought that it’s best
that in their relationship with countries there is a partnership and cooperation
agreement. It is a framework agreement which they want with countries, third
countries, other than their members. And the Philippines was the first country
after the Lisbon Agreement which entered into the Partnership Cooperation
Agreement. Very broad, it’s a framework, the implementation of whatever is in
there will have to be done through a specific agreements. But it’s covering
trade, migration, security, the whole gamut of inter-stated, inter-people
relationship. So we signed it in I think, 2011, it is undergoing ratification. On
the part of the European Union there are 28-member states plus the European
Parliament and I think we are halfway for our part. It’s an executive agreement
and therefore we need the conformance or the conformity of all the major
agencies which in the end will implement the various aspects of the agreement.
I think we are almost done with that. But really in reality the agreement is just
consolidating everything that we’ve been doing anyway. So it’s just to make
sure that we have this framework where we can all proceed to deepen the
relationship which anchored on promotion of course, of more benefits to both
parties and also promotion of human rights, promotion of democracy. And it’s
a good sort of parang bible natin sa lahat nang ating mga gawain with them.
FB:
Ma’am, President Aquino is scheduled to meet with the Presidents of EC with
Mr. Barroso and Mr. Van Rompuy, so what do you think are the possible talking
points between, among them and the agenda?
Amb. Bataclan:
This is the second time that the President will meet with both President
Barroso of the European Commission and President Van Rompuy of the Council
because the first time they met was in Vientianne in 2012, I think, when
precisely the Partnership Cooperation Agreement with the European Union and
the Philippines were signed by them, not them, but Secretary del Rosario and
the higher representative, Madame Ashton. So this meeting is meant to take
stock of the relationship. It’s also in a way to celebrate, commemorate 50
years of the relations, just like in marriage, you commemorate golden
anniversaries, and there were between countries, you know, 600 million of
them and some hundred million of us, 50th anniversary afterall. So it could be
nice for our leaders who represent the peoples to meet. So it’s meant to
commemorate it, celebrate, take stock and perhaps more importantly to look
at the future course of relationship. I don’t know, I just want to emphasize for
example that the EU-member states, our biggest investors in terms of stock of
foreign direct investment in the Philippines. They’re also one of our top fourth
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sometimes it’s third, sometimes fourth together trading partner. They are also
among our biggest official development cooperation partners. And in here I
have to emphasize or underline the very spontaneous, heartwarming support
and contribution for the relief, rehabilitation and even for reconstruction that
the European Union has, the European Union, the individual member states
and of course the people also, the EU, so much coming out to spontaneously
giving assistance to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. So the President would be
here of course to thank, express our gratitude nothingless, thanking them,
we’ve been thanking them, we are a grateful people. But I think we will also
thank the people who have helped us all the time. So there are very specific
issues. Just like in any relationships, there are sometimes issues that we need
to address. I don’t know if you want me to go through them briefly right now.
Tending ones. So on the trade and investment side of things, yes, we have
very good relationship and the President is here to encourage more
investments in the Philippines. There will be Public-Private Partnership
Conference which the President will attend, and right now I think we’re
overbooked with 80 firms not only with Belgium and Luxembourg but all over
Europe to attend this conference. We will encourage our European friends, the
businessmen to take a look at all these major infrastructural needs that we
have for development. So that’s one. And we have been qualified by the
European Commission for the so-called generalized systems of preferences,
plus we are already benefitting from the so-called lower or some of them zero
preference tariff for our major exports. This is given to most developing
countries and the Philippines have been benefitting from them over the years.
But there is such a thing as GSP plus, they call it, which means more products
especially fisheries, fishery products, garments, even umbrellas I think are in
these major group of products. And once we qualify, finally this has got to be
decided by the European parliament, you know, just like their very democratic
institutions, and also the Council, the Commission as I’ve said, which is the
Executive has endorsed. We qualified the two criteria. One as our adherence
to at least 27 international instruments of human rights. And we of course
have always been, you know, pioneer on this in fact. And therefore we have
that. And two, some they call it vulnerability to exports. You know, if you have
limited exports then my definition becomes vulnerable. So those are two
criteria which enable or with which the EU says maybe we should understand
those constraint or vulnerabilities, we have limited exports and therefore offer
developing countries like us who qualify with more tariff, zero. Example I think
is in the case of tuna products it is 21% tariff, under GSP plus it will be zero. So
you can imagine the great benefit will of course to the exporters. Those are the
kinds of GSP plus benefits that we will have. The estimate is for the next three
years some 700, close to 700 million US dollars of more trade will accrue to us
if we finally get this approval. So the President of course will make this case
through the leader of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso and of course
with Mr. Van Rompuy and through them to the members of the parliament.
They’re independent but we will voice out. The President will make that
representation. The other ones… this is really essentially to thank the
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European Commission for the confidence they have had in lifting the air
significant… air safety concerns for PAL, Philippine Air Lines and Cebu Pacific
last year. So that’s great. What we hope is it will be lifted to the rest of the
airlines and I know that it may even be a moot and academic question for some
of them which are not really flying to Europe or have no plans of. But the idea
is to… because the sanction is by airline. So I thought I just mention that for
the future.
And then of course the plight of our seafarers. We have very good compliance,
substantive compliance that’s for to make sure that we conform with the third
major seafaring nation of the world. And for the EU we have somewhat 80,000
of our seafarers. And here we are all stake parties, the EU and its member
states and the Philippines are stake parties, the so-called STCW under the
seafarers, training, convention under the IMO. And under this regime, you
know, all countries, including us of course, want to make sure that there is
compliance with this very important convention. And here so far so good. And
with all the great efforts of MARINA of course which is the lead… now the
single agency overseeing our compliance with this convention. Everybody in
the industry have been supporting the further improvements and tightening up
of our rules, you know CHED, PRC, I mean, there are so many to mention. And
so far this audit has been going on rather long. But the last year it’s been quite
good and I for one am very confident they’ve been seeking all the
documentation and having been in the meetings between our people, MARINA
and the secretary was also here with their counterparts here, the
Commissioner. I think we can reassure them, I think the President will reassure
the European Commission that indeed will continue to be complying with all
these.
FB:
Amb. Bataclan:
Ma’am, moving over to the President’s working visit to the Kingdom of
Belgium, so he’s set to have an audience with His Majesty the King and meet
with the Prime Minister as well. How would you characterize our bilateral and
economic relations with the Kingdom of Belgium.
Before we go there, I just have to mention, this is very important, that among the
other matters that our President, I’m sure, will reassure the European Union
through the European Commission in particular and the Council is this whole
adherence and resolve of the Philippines to adhere to all the principles that
want to make sure that there is no unregulated, unreported, there’s one more
U, no, no, illegal… IUUF – Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported Fishing which is a
common concern not only with the EU of course, we share that. So our before
and oldest stakeholders of course the Department of Agriculture with also in
conjunction of MARINA, because they have a role in this; Coast Guard have
been working very hard since the last two years to make sure that the
concerns, some legitimate concerns that they have they just wanna make sure
that we of course are complying with all of these. I mean, we want them to
comply as well but again this would be a great opportunity with no less than
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the President himself assuring our EU friends and all the stakeholders here in
the member states that we will make sure that there is full compliance,
substantive compliance with these principles, the regulation on IUUF. Right, it
is very important because this concern our industry, as I said our major
exporters, we are about to avail of ourselves of the GSP plus. So I think that’s
about the last of the very specific issues or matters that will be highlighted at
least. Because that’s what friends do. When you have a question, we answer,
and we discuss them.
Okay to our Belgian friends. First of all, I’d like to I think really fondly recall
that then President Corazon Aquino was here in ’89 Belgium among others the
countries of Europe were among those who has recognized the People Power
peaceful revolution that we have. And so at that time the King, His Majesty
King Baudouin, I hope I pronounced his name correctly, yes, invited President
Aquino to come here. And His Majesty King Philippe is of course the nephew of
King Baudouin, and he the current King of the Belgians, King Philippe, has been
to the Philippines in ’96. His father, His Majesty King Albert was also in the
Philippines in the 70s. And in their system they had the important economic
missions of Belgium, you know, to third countries including the Philippines.
And at that time that visit resulted in I think the LRT. Yes, one of our first
association with Belgium is the LRT. I am just mentioning this that this is
really… I mean, Belgium is not new to us. And long before,again, I’ll go back to
Jose Rizal in the 1890s he was here; there’s a marker in the city of Belgium
where he lived and in Ghent where he published the El Filibusterismo, there’s
also a marker there. So there are these close ties, there’s hundred fifty years of
the CICM in the Philippines. They are into education and religious education. A
lot of people I meet here most of the time would always tell me that, yes, I’ve
been there. A lot of priests here speak language, I mean, our language and
Belgian. They’re still there into education, into of course, into evangelization
and all. So what I am saying is that there is that’s almost natural – familiarity
and kinship – and this should be a great opportunity for the President to recall
and reminisce all of these with His Majesty King Philippe of the Belgians and of
course with the Prime Minister -Prime Minister Elio di Rupo, President of the
Philippines – to talk about the bilateral relations also have been very, very
cordial and there are 10,000 Filipinos who are here enjoying the hospitality. Of
course they are working and contributing to the Belgian society. Our nurses
were here 40 years ago and I think there are some… the current statistics
5,000 Filipino seafarers on board ships docked in Antwerp, it’s the second
largest port in Europe, next to Rotterdam. So they docked there and… so there
is also that, you know, sort of medium whereby the Filipinos are here. They’re
second generation Filipinos who are here who are studying. We have
thousands of students over the years. And therefore the idea is for our two
countries to this visit to think about how we can best to continue to be very
good friends and to have more trade and more investment and more academic
exchanges and more.
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FB:
Amb. Bataclan:
First of all, I’d like to recall and emphasize really the significance of one of the
highlight of the official development assistance that Belgium extended to us in,
you know, after ’86 was in Agrarian Reform. I think seven years of it. And I
think it tells a lot about the kind of values and concern the Belgians share with
us because this is promotion of social justice in the centerpiece program of
then President Corazon Aquino. So I think that’s very important. Up to 1996 we
are officially a partner; but after ’96 we are no longer in the category of the
formal, you know, focused countries. You know, countries in the world have
different focus and priorities; and because we have reached that level of
development under both the OECD standards and even under the World Bank,
then we are not per se a focused country. But they continue to extend
assistance through the various NGOs and definitely the humanitarian
assistance when it comes to calamities and you mentioned Haiyan, is a
constant regardless of you know, everybody suffers from disasters no matter
what kind of development to it. And I do really just have to reiterate or to
mention again, I mean they call it BeFast. It’s a rescue operation. They were
among the first in the grounds – our Belgian friends. Of course they did this
under the EU umbrella together with the Dutch, of the the Luxembourgers and
others. But they were among the very first in the grounds. I knew it because
they gave me a call and say “we need a plane landing” with 40 EU team and
BeFast in particular with the water purification plant and with the hospital. It’s
the instant hospital that they put up. So I have to mention that. And they have
always been very helpful to us. And I have to underline that it also goes to… I
mean this is also from all sectors of the Belgian society, the various regional
governments. You know Belgium is a federal system, from Flanders, from
______, from the German speaking community, to Brussels capital region –
they had a consortium of at least four major non-governmental organizations.
Guess what? They mobilized over 10 million contributions albeit given directly
to most of them, to the NGOs, I mean, not to the government really but to
ICRC, Red Cross and of course to UNICEF.
I have to mention that Her Majesty the Queen I think the Honorary Chairman
of UNICEF in Belgium. When I met her in one of the receptions she was very
much mentioning about how happy they were to be able to help. And that was
a lot. We’ve been invited in concerts initiated by people just to say “I am
dedicating this concert”. Peter and the Wolf for example, people who we really
don’t even know and in addition to all Filipino-Belgians who are here. And that
goes in fact for the whole of Europe. So this is where we are. And so with out
Belgian friends I think there are some very action NGOs in the Philippines. Trias
is one of them. But on the trade we want to do more and expand more trade
and investment relations with them.
Question:
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Amb. Batacan:
They are the best ambassadors better than this one. I promised you that. This
is where every Belgian and the community who are here every time I meet
them this is what they will always say that you know how great our people are.
I mean we are always very proud of them. And you know they are, for
example, they are the ones who work with our Belgian friends and everybody
who’s here, the international community. Remember that Belgium has the
biggest diplomatic community; the biggest sort of civil servant because of the
EU institutions. There are some close to 30 thousand of them. And our people
work here in various capacities. As we said we have our nurses, we had our
pioneers 40 years ago, in the hospitals. In one hospital there was no Filipino
there but just the same, it’s alright, it’s okay. Not in this particular one but…
and we have students. So they have great reputation, they are respected and
well-loved. We meet with them regularly here. There’ll be some 700 of them
filling up the Cathedral in St. Gudule and St. Michel. They’re great. There are
entrepreneurs, there could be more but not as many as we want yet but of
course we’ve been trying to do financial literacy program here encouraging…
by the way, most of them are women who come to the sessions. And one of
them even belongs to us, somebody who works with us and opted to go home
and start her own business. So yeah, that’s an example. So you have very
mobile, very dedicated typical of the Filcom wherever they are who are very
around; they are very concerned.
Usec. Valte was just here and we have regular kapehan with them to discuss
issues they are very familiar – from the West Philippine Sea to the DAP; of
course all kinds of issues. And we have a Filipino parish here, we have a priest
who stationed here. We have Filipino priests studying in Leuven - theology is
one of their strong suite in that university. So right now I think I can count
about 50 Filipino students who are here from all walks of life, PhD students.
But I think we could do more. Thanks to the Erasmus plus; and this is really one
that I would like to encourage more of our kababayan from home and the
second generation Filipinos here to avail themselves because it is the best way
to foster understanding.
Final Question:
Amb. Bataclan:
Well, first of all, hello to my mother – sorry, she’s ninety and it’s my birthday
today. Alright, so I have to say hello to her and will soon see her in October. I
have to say that, pwede ba?
Yes, we are very excited and very proud that the President and his whole
delegation is coming to Belgium and of course to the European insitutions. We
share great values with these institutions; we are trying to build an ASEAN also
as an integration… (I have to look there. Okay)
And I think the Philippine experience and the Philippine leadership historically
should be a great messenger of what we in Southeast Asia and may be the
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developing world would want to communicate to our European Union friends –
Belgium in particular. And those are, you know, how do we use friendship,
how do we use relations not just with governments but especially with the
peoples of the European Union and the peoples of the Philippines and our
region to promote really prosperity and I am saying especially in this time and
age – peace. We need that. Without peace we can’t do anything. So peace…
so we have good story to tell. I am sure the President, well, as he said in some
of his speeches will share the peace process that we have succesfully
negotiated and concluded. And again these are good place to rally continued
support because the European Union has been a constant supporter of our
search for lasting peace in the Philippines in particular insofar as the peace
process with our Muslim brothers and sisters. So it’s a good story to tell and
hopefully to aspire these institutions as well to continue doing what they are
good at. Some people call it soft power. But soft is sometimes stronger. It’s
just like legal is lethal as somebody said, a good friend knows… promoting the
role of law.
And then we will have a great privilege of meeting the President. The Filipinos
are excited. We will be in this big cathedral which is the center also of both
the major ceremonies in this country. So in a way, I think in a different way is
we are reliving Jose Rizal and his friends those days when they alln came to
Europe. Those days were search for ideals and they were able to do it here.
Nowadays, we are called upon, all of us here, all the Filipinos all over the world,
to do our share to… there’s not much to die for our country I think anymore
but to live for our country by doing exactly what we are suppose to be doing.
To be good citizens, to be good contributors to the societies who welcomed us.
Same manner we do when we are at home. And so right, so I think that’s
basically it. We are very honored – all my colleagues in the Embassy, all the
Filipinos community here and all our friends – we are very much looking
forward to the visit of the President and his whole delegation, business
delegation to promote trade. And the ministers that we have, our secretaries,
and who else… yeag, I think that with your whole team. Thank you for
spreading the gospel.
(#END OF INTERVIEW#)