Spain marked its National Day last Oct. 10, two days ahead of its Oct. 12th National Day. Why does Spain not have an Independence Day? Because since 1469, Spain has been under its own rule. Spain was an empire controlling colonies around the world, including the Philippines. On Oct. 12, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus completed his journey across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in the New World. Meanwhile, on March 16, 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, attempting to sail around the world for Spain, reached the Philippine archipelago in Mactan, Cebu. And since Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands, we have been under Spanish rule for three centuries, from the 1500s to the 1800s.
Today, at the ballroom of Fairmont Hotel, Ambassador Miguel Utray said, “We will continue to promote Spain in the Philippines and the Philippines in Spain through different programs developed by our Ministry of Education and the excellent activity of Instituto Cervantes.”
Ambassador Utray also said that in the last two years that he has been in our country, he has been able to observe first-hand the extraordinary capacity for transformation of the Philippines and the enormous potential that lies in the development of our bilateral relations.