DFA chief confers Order of Sikatuna on Israel envoy

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, on behalf of President Aquino, conferred yesterday on outgoing Israeli Ambassador Menashe Bar-On the Order of Sikatuna, rank of Grand Cross at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Bar On ended his tour of duty in Manila after serving for three years.

He will be replaced by Ambassador Ephraim Ben Matityahu, who was assigned as ambassador to Vietnam and previously consul general in Australia.

Bar On received the Sikatuna award in recognition of his achievements in promoting  bilateral relations between the Philippines and Israel.

He was cited for his contributions in the establishment and implementation of various programs, including a disaster risk mitigation and disease prevention and control project.

The ambassador speaks multiple languages such as Hebrew, English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and a little Tagalog.

One of the programs his country shares with Filipinos is the Agrostudies program.

Each year for the past five years, over 300 Filipino students across the country are sent to Israel to take up their one year on-the-job training on livestock, fishery and farming technologies.

With the knowledge that they gain from the program, they are able to share it with their families, schools and communities.

The bond between the two countries strengthened when Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines.

“It wasn’t a question if we would come to help, but of how and when,” Bar On said.

He said an elite rescue team of Israel Defense Forces flew to Bogo City, Cebu, bringing with them a mobile hospital, medical equipment and medicine for typhoon victims.

They also reconstructed schools and water filtration systems in typhoon-devastated areas.

Under Bar On’s term the Air Services Agreement, opening direct flights between the Philippines and Israel, was signed last May 26.

The agreement is expected to create more trade and tourism opportunities and encourage thousands of Filipinos working in Israel to come home more often.

Before joining the diplomatic community, Bar On served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1966 to 1969 and took up Bachelor of Arts major in History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.