Remarks
of
TEODORO L. LOCSIN, JR.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
On the Opening Ceremony of the Restored Alkaff Bridge, Singapore
[12 July 2019]
Your Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Madam Joy Balakrishnan,
Your Excellency, Ambassador Joseph del Mar Yap and Madam Josephine Yap,
Honorable Officials of the Government of Singapore,
Family and kin of the late Pacita Abad,
Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
IT is my great pleasure and privilege to be here to honor a revered artist and compatriot, Pacita Abad, and to join you and her kin in witnessing the ceremonial opening of the restored Alkaff Bridge. It is fitting to start by thanking all those who, with their resolve and generosity, made this possible:
- We thank the Government of Singapore, represented here today by Minister Balakrishnan, as well as the Art Estate of Pacita Abad led by Mr. John Paul “Jack” Garrity.
- We commend Ambassador Joseph del Mar Yap for his tireless efforts to bring together donors for this worthy project.
- Our appreciation also goes to Mr. Jose Isidro “Lito” Camacho and Professor Tommy Koh, for their initiative and spearheading of this effort.
We are also grateful to
1. Mr. Tony Chew Leong Chee, Asia Resource Corporation
2. Mr. Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corporation
3. Mr. Lance Gokongwei, Cebu Air
4. Mr. Michael Tan of the LT Group of my old friend Mr. Lucio Tan or Kapitan as we call him.
5. Ms. Teresita Sy-Coson of BDO and almost everything else.
6. Ms. Lourdes Josephin Gotianun Yap of Filinvest Group.
7. Mr. Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee.
8. Mr. Lee Boon Yang Chairman of Keppel Corporation
9. Mr. Tony Chew of Asia Resource
10. Dr. Liu Thai Ker of the National Arts Council
11. Mr. Ong Yew Huat of Singapore Tyler Institute
12. The Philippines-Singapore Business Council
A full dozen.
To Pacita’s family — her husband Jack, her brother Butch, her niece the very talented Julia, and other kin — your presence imparts something very special to this celebration. It is as if Pacita’s family has taken us in their grief and remembrance. I thank you deeply.
Bridges shape and explain much of history: from bridges like this closing a narrow divide making it easier for the same community to get around; to long bridges across chasms created by geography; to the symbolic ones linking nations and the one connecting our present to our past and both to the future. These are bridges of memory and heart, of commitment and aspiration; They endure longer than physical bridges if we but wish them to. It depends only on how strongly we want to keep those connections.
The symbolism of bridges punctuates narratives of division and unity. We say of enemies that they are on the other side of the river; and that makes them different and us safe — but poorer for not knowing them nor they us. But when we become friends we say they are just a bridge away.
The 20-year-old Alkaff Bridge, named after a prominent Arab family in early 20th century in Singapore, started as a public works solution to facilitate pedestrian traffic across the Singapore River.
It was during the early years of the bridge’s existence, in 2003, that Pacita, then on a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, set eyes on the boat-shaped structure. Consummate artist that she was, she was seized with the idea of imparting a sense of vitality and community to a multi-racial, multi-cultural state imparting vividness and immediacy to the structure through colour: a total of 55 hues and shades and 900 litres of paint to be exact. She explicitly said she was doing it for the people of Singapore.
Walking along this promenade, we see Pacita’s vision come to vivid life again as Singapore’s iconic “bridge of art”. She completed it in early 2004, putting the finishing touches with her own hand. It would be her final major canvass; in December that year Pacita died.
The full restoration of Alkaff bridge to Pacita’s original vision and work, on the 50th year of our official friendship, pays tribute to her artistry, to the vibrancy and multiculturalism of Singapore, and to the enduring ties of our two countries and peoples.
Alkaff Bridge, so transformed, connects not just the banks of Robertson Quay, but brings together also the Filipino and Singaporean peoples in mutual appreciation, amity and cooperation. Alkaff Bridge has become the metaphor for one of Southeast Asia’s most abiding friendships.
In life, the artist described herself as an “Ambassador of Colour” — there is a play on the word there — whose works bring smiles to whoever sees them. We are smiling now — in awe, in marvel, and with gratitude for her legacy.
Standing before Pacita’s work of art and heart, restored through the support of generous individuals and institutions, we are filled with renewed inspiration to continue our work of forging ever stronger ties with the most efficient state in the world: one that started with almost nothing except for a surfeit of leadership material far more than the rest of Asia combined. And so it became what it is today: The embodied Asian vision of what a country should be. Some will say, “Yes but that’s because it’s small.” I will say that if big countries were reduced to small fractions of what they are, I doubt they’d become Singapore. So this is the bridge between where we are and where we wanto go; of what we are and what we want to be. Thank you Singapore, thank you Pacita, Mabuhay to us all.