On testing friendship

ALONG with the celebration of the United States of America’s 235th Independence Day, last July 4 was also the Filipino-American Friendship Day, the commemoration of the enduring alliance between the two countries.
During the joint celebration of the American Independence Day and the Filipino-American Friendship Day at the US Embassy in Manila on July 1, US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr., said that “historic ties and strong bonds of friendship and family” are some of the key factors of that keep the lasting alliance between the Philippines and the US over the years.
Citing the Philippine’s shared aims with the US, Secretary to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCCO), Herminio Coloma Jr., said that the mutual ideas of fidelity, freedom, and democracy are some of the things that have bound the two countries together for decades.
“As we also observe Fil-American Friendship Day, we hope that the United States will remain our steadfast ally in meeting the emerging challenges of our times,” he added.
Dating back to 1946 when the Americans ultimately recognized Philippine independence and surrendered full authority, supervision, and sovereignty of the country to the Filipinos, the Philippine-American ties remained intact up to this day through the Mutual Defense Treaty Act of 1951. Since the inception of the Treaty, both countries mutually benefitted from each other’s sources and locations.
The US is one of the major trading partners of the Philippines, which also explains the influence America has in the Filipino lifestyle especially when it comes to education, clothing, and principles, among others. Millions of Filipinos have also resided in major parts of the US and have made the latter their home.
The Philippines, on the other hand, have been a supplier of raw materials to the US and have also provided a strategic location for the Balikatan Exercises, in which the American troops train side by side with Filipino military forces to prepare themselves in a real-world situation.
The commitment to help defend each other from the aggravation of external forces is proven at present when the US expressed its support to the Philippines amid the rising tension between the former and China over the rights of Spratlys Islands which is believed to have rich reserves of oil and natural gas.
In a speech during Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario’s visit to the White House last June 23, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave assurance that the US was committed to stand by the Philippines as a strategic ally and provide it with the affordable military equipments to help the country defend itself should it be needed.
The involvement of the US in the Spratly dispute has aggravated China with the belief that the US involvement will make matters worse. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Lui Jianchao said that the recent statements from the US were considered as “meddling in the dispute between China and other claimants.”
However, Harry Thomas Jr., said that the US will continue supporting the Philippines including on issues regarding the South China Sea.
Acknowledging Thomas’s statement, President Aquino said that he was pleased to know that the Philippines can still rely on the US as an ally as fortified by the Mutual Defense Act.
Good friends are easy to find when one prospers. But great friends are those who choose to be there through thick and thin. Friends draw strength from one another; that is why for long time allies like the Philippines and the US, it is important that both seek constant assurance that they have each other’s back especially during trying times.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LV July 7-13, 2011 Sec A pg.6)