Speech

of

HON. TEODORO L. LOCSIN JR.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs

At the Diplomatic Reception for the 121st Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence

[Delivered at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland on 13 June 2019]

Excellencies,

Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Distinguished guests,

Thank you for joining us tonight as we celebrate the 121st Anniversary of our independence.

The Philippine Republic is a story of unceasing struggle for independence: to gain it, to keep it; to regain it when lost; and expand its freedom of action and scope. Following independence, the struggle continued as a striving for an independent foreign policy. All our presidents have been intense nationalists; refusing to adopt the enemies of the West as automatically our enemies as well. Today we’ve refined the recent foreign policy of being friend to all, enemy to none to what I’ve made it: friend to friends, enemy to enemies; a worse enemy to false friends. We’re separating the golden wheat from the sodden chaff across the globe.

We beat the Spaniards with help from America; and then fought the Americans in the first of the bloody Asian wars of liberation; prefiguring Vietnam. The first though short-lived Republic in Asia, the Philippines was the model for freedom struggles in half the world. Chinese, Indochinese, Malays and Indonesians were inspired by it and adopted our heroes as their own. The hit-and-run incident in the South China Sea where a Chinese fishing vessel sank a Philippine fishing boat and left the crew to the mercy of the elements will test the fortitude of our commitment to independence.

Today, the Philippines is a proud founding member of the United Nations even before it was independent. And as a member that believes that the UN’s work must reflect the realities and aspirations of “we the peoples”—pointedly not the member states—of the United Nations.” We have for over 40 years pushed for migration to be mainstreamed into the UN agenda because it is about people—people fleeing states or the failure of states; people seeking the shelter and safety that only states can provide. We were able to fulfill that mandate with the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration.

The Global Compact for Migration took two years of difficult negotiations over complex issues; and met strong opposition, ironically not least from countries of migrant composition. But we persevered in the confidence that decency would prevail.  From the very start, the Philippines declared that the Compact must be anchored on decency. There are many ways by which states can regulate the migration process; but only one way to treat migrants: and that is with decency. Because we are all migrants one way or another—from birth through many changes, often profound, in our lives; always seeking a place of greater safety and contentment in ourselves; in a country—of our birth or another. A man without country is cursed.

The Compact is a triumph of multilateralism. It is an assertion of sovereignty acting in concert with other sovereignties for humane objectives; but in no wise does it deny any particle of sovereignty’s full extent and reach to protect itself and those who live in it or who have sought and found safety there. To protect them from hurt.

Today, we push our commitment to multilateralism and migration further with the candidature of Ambassador Evan P. Garcia, Permanent Representative to UN Geneva, for Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration.

Ambassador Evan is a seasoned career diplomat, a pride of the Philippine Foreign Service, with over 30 years of experience in bilateral, regional and global affairs. He was Undersecretary for Policy. He served two (2) terms as Permanent Representative to Geneva; has been Ambassador to London; and served in Washington DC and Tokyo.

ASEAN has endorsed him as its regional candidate. This speaks volumes, for in a region with a combined population of over 640 million who regularly cross borders, and whose governments encourage and engage in people-to-people exchanges, effectively managing the entire migration cycle is fundamental to its continued growth and security. Every Filipino diplomat is well-versed on migration. But Ambassador Evan is an expert. He led the Philippines’ ratification of the ILO Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.  He had worked with the IOM, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and other institutions on the provision of humanitarian assistance in crisis situations. He was Second Vice Chairperson of the IOM Bureau in 2018. He has had leadership roles in the Philippines’ continuous active participation in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).

The Compact tasks the IOM to be the coordinator and secretariat of the UN Network on Migration. At this crucial moment, we believe that Ambassador Evan is the right person to be Deputy Director General of the IOM.

Ambassador Evan’s vision is for an IOM that is fully integrated into the UN system, with its Policy Advisory capacity and output into the UN System strengthened. He wants to enhance IOM’s frontline capabilities for humanitarian assistance, fieldwork, research, and capacity-building and training, including through mobilizing resources and strengthening IOM’s traditional partnerships and cultivating new ones. Central to this vision is the improvement of gender equality and geographic representation in the organization.

Behind Ambassador Evan is 40 years of Philippine experience in migration diplomacy. When no countries spoke up for migrants, the Philippines did. When they sought a home; we opened our doors without conditions—most recently is that true of the Rohingya. We advocated for the UN Convention of the Rights and Welfare of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. We were one of the pillars of the UN High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, which now has become the Compact’s International Migration Review Forum. Our 2008 Chairmanship of the GFMD was the first global forum on migration and development. We are a proponent of the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. We have led initiatives for the protection of migrant workers – from domestic workers to international seafarers.

The Philippines has defeated the notion that migration is bad; quite the opposite. And we did this with facts and not frightful fantasies of job losses when no local wanted those kinds of jobs. We did it with reason by showing that migrants have been useful additions to host countries. Not fear but facts shaped our perception and guided our actions. We have shown that migration can work for all.

I ask you to join me in raising a toast to a shared future of sustainable peace, prosperity, and stability. Mabuhay! END