Getting to know H.E. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr.

We’ve had the pleasure and the distinction of having interviewed the current ambassadors to the Philippines from the countries of Spain, Malaysia and Argentina. Most recently, we got to know the very genial and accommodating American Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Harry K. Thomas Jr.

What strikes one immediately with the friendly ambassador is his spontaneity as well as his candor and his visible genuine love for the Philippines, the Filipinos, and the Filipino language! He readily calls his elder sister who came recently to the country to visit “Ate”, and has even learned some nuances of the Filipino language which have no direct translations and hence are quite difficult to explain. For instance, he now appreciates the meaning of the term “palusot” which was liberally used in conversations with friends who regaled him with stories about the recent controversial (and protracted) impeachment proceedings. He has an impressive facility with languages and speaks Spanish, Hindi and Bangla and is in the process of polishing his Tagalog.

Ambassador Thomas was born in Queens, New York and his parents were both from South Carolina who moved to New York for better work opportunities. His mom, now 87 years old was a social worker and his dad held various jobs and ran businesses after serving in World War II and the Korean War. He even recalled war stories of Leyte to his children, the Ambassador remembers.

To quote the American diplomat when asked about his childhood: “I had an idyllic life…we had to cut the grass once a week….my dad always had two cars then, a Mercury and a Cadillac which we rode to go watch the baseball games on Saturdays..it was an Ozzie and Harriet life.” On his Mom’s most recent birthday, he went home to New York and brought her to Red Ribbon for cake.

He spent his childhood in a pleasant neighborhood, on a street where most of the families were in civil service. For summers, he would go home as a young boy to his parents’ hometown of Kingstreet in South Carolina where he had dozens of cousins, his dad being one of 10 children and his mom one of eight. In fact, he has a cousin based in Kuwait who is married to a Filipina and he has one in Bacolod, also married to a Pinay, and both cousins are servicemen.

The young Harry K. Thomas, Jr. graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and pursued further study at Columbia University.

How did he find himself in public service?

Weighing his career options, he checked out public service in their public library at Queens and was initially interested to join US AID. The very frank and candid ambassador laughed loudly at the memory of having been rejected in his application to the organization, so he took the Foreign Service exam in 1983 (March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, he distinctly remembers) which he passed. He thus embarked on a career that saw him as a political officer in Lima, Peru; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kaduna, Nigeria; and New Delhi, India.

From 2003 to 2005, Ambassador Thomas served as US Ambassador to Bangladesh and after his term served as director general of the Foreign Service and director for human resources of the US State Department. Prior to that, he served as a special assistant to the Secretary and executive secretary of the Department where he led the State Department Task Force that safely evacuated over 15,000 people from Lebanon in the fall of 2006. He is also no stranger to Asian affairs, having served in the White House as director for South Asia at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2002.

The American ambassador presented his credentials to former President Gloria M. Arroyo on April 27, 2010. Counting two years of posting in the Philippines, he has traveled a lot and has cultivated friends in the Philippine circle. He finds the Filipinos “very open”, and credits his Philippine posting with a serious lesson he has learned on the job: to see various issues from different perspectives and not be limited by one’s vision. Quite a few Filipino friends, he says, criticized the U.S. for bombing Manila towards the end of WWII where many lives were lost. Though he doesn’t quite agree with their assessment, he says “even if you don’t agree, you can understand”. Spoken like a true diplomat.

He says he “clearly loves Baguio” where the annual Fil-Am Golf Tournament is held (Ambassador Thomas is enamored with the game!). He has been to various cities in the north and in the Visayas, and sees a lot of potentials in Mindanao, though he still has to experience Boracay. Our beaches, he says, are the greatest, and he likes the new tourism slogan “It’s More Fun in the Philippines”.

On our educational and cultural exchanges: there are some 1,700 Filipino students currently in the United States on an exchange program, a long-standing and continuous program that his country maintains with the Philippines. On the sports side, he fully supports the basketball and baseball diplomacy efforts of the United States where NBA stars as well as baseball greats come to the country for exhibition games and clinics in Smokey Mountain and in Makati, Alabang and Baguio. The United States, he says, has named Kareem Abdul Jabar (who has been here before) as the new basketball ambassador.

But what he is most proud of right now is his title as honorary coach of the Smokey Mountain Baseball Team and through his efforts, classmates and friends from his old school Holy Cross donated sports equipment to the kids of Smokey Mountain. He is also most proud of the fact that young students from Mindanao as well as those with special needs are now into high school exchange programs in America.

I had a big laugh myself when he said he tried to bring hip hop dance instructors here as part of their cultural program, only to find that our young people danced better than their instructors! So much for hip hop, he said.

Brought on by his love for languages which he says is necessary if one is to fully understand the culture of a people, he has also embarked on a program at his embassy where his American staff members have learned how to speak Tagalog.

Way to go Mr. Ambassador! I join the Filipino nation in welcoming you to our country which you have embraced so warmly.

Don Benito Lim

A big loss to the retailing industry is the passing of Don Benito Lim last June 9. Friends and family trooped to the Sanctuaruim along Araneta Avenue to pay their respects to a great industrialist until his internment at the Heritage Park in Fort Bonifacio on June 13.

A long-standing member of the Philippine Retailers Association Council of Advisers, Don Benito, who was a Retailers Diamond awardee was considered the ”Father of Retailing” in the Philippines, having established successful chains of appliance and furniture/lifestyle stores nationwide.

Samie Lim, the country’s recognized “Father of Franchising” proudly states, “My dad’s most treasured legacy is his honorable reputation in all his dealings with family, friends, customers, business associates and government.”

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.    

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