Laughter helps Pinoys survive, says US exec

Laughter is still the best medicine for Filipinos.

This is how Ronald Post, outgoing counselor for public affairs of the US Embassy in Manila, will fondly remember Filipinos when he returns to Washington to take on a bigger responsibility at the State Department.

"I think that this national trait is what makes Filipinos survive as a people," Post said.

Post and Karen Kelley, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Manila, are packing their bags to leave the Philippines next month, with memories of smiling Filipinos amid the boiling political atmosphere.

Both US Embassy officials were at the end of their three-year tour of duty here.

The officers and staff of the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy are, in fact, hosting a farewell reception tonight for Post and his wife, Gi Won, and Kelley.

Friends of Post and Kelley, led by former presidential legislative liaison office secretary Jose Jaime Policarpio and wife Sheila, gave them a goodbye party last Saturday night at the Palms Country Club ballroom in Filinvest subdivision in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Post and Policarpio were classmates during a one-month seminar on national security which took them to Hawaii and several other countries in 1997.

In his extemporaneous remarks at the gathering, Post expressed his fond memories of his stint in the Philippines for the past three years, during which time he got to know and love the Filipino people, their culture and psyche.

"We won’t miss the traffic. We won’t miss the pollution. And certainly, we won’t miss the politics here," Post said.

"But what we would miss most are the smiles of the Filipino people. Filipinos, as a people, don’t dwell on their problems," Post noted, adding, "They can make jokes and make light about their problems."

Post, who is set to leave on July 5, has been promoted to serve as head of Public Diplomacy for East Asia-Pacific at the State Department in Washington DC.

"I dread to tread the halls of the State Department and I think I would have a ‘culture shock’ once I get back there where nobody smiles," Post wisecracked.

On a serious note, Post promised: "I will be the inside fan for the Filipinos at the State Department."

Post would be replaced here by Lee McClenny as the new counselor for public affairs of the embassy effective Aug. 4. Kelley, who leaves in mid-July, would be replaced by Matt Lussenhop.

The US State Department though has yet to announce the replacements for former US ambassador Francis Ricciardone and embassy charge d’affaires Joseph Mussomeli.

Post told The STAR that US embassies in other countries were similarly situated –in the transition between ambassadors. In South Korea, for example, the Bush administration has also yet to name a new envoy.