In fair or bad weather

Even in possible inclement weather next week, there is no stopping the official activities lined up for the state visit to the Philippines of Her Royal Highness, Queen Sofia of Spain. Queen Sofia is auspiciously coming here to personally see and update herself on the disaster-mitigation projects funded out of Spanish development aid and grants in the country.

In fact, part of the Spanish Queen’s official activities during her state visit is to fly to Legazpi City in Albay, one of the country’s typhoon-prone areas. Rain or shine, Spanish ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Domecq has come up with a detailed program of activities for the Queen’s visit, including an alternative program in case of bad weather.

Before she flies to Legazpi City, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would host at Malacañang Palace a state banquet in honor of Queen Sofia and her delegation of Spanish government officials. 

This we learned from the briefing given to Philippine media last Wednesday at the Spanish ambassador’s official residence in North Forbes, Makati City. Except for certain security requirements, Ambassador Domecq gave us a detailed account of Queen Sofia’s itinerary here from July 2 to 6.

According to Ambassador Domecq, Queen Sofia came here four times in the past either on official or state visits — in 1995, 1998, 2000, and in 2003. But this time, the ambassador cited, Queen Sofia will be making her longest visit lasting five days. 

The 73-year-old Queen Sofia has a full load of activities here that also include visits to Philippine institutions replete with Spanish heritage like at the University of Sto. Tomas, our oldest university run by Spanish Dominican fathers.

A quick Google search on Wikipedia showed Queen Sofia was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on November 2, 1938. She is the eldest child of King Paul of Greece (1901-1964) and his wife, Queen Frederika (1917-1981), a former princess of Hanover. She was then called Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark until the abolition of the Greek monarchy.

Actually, Queen Sofia’s first ever visit to the Philippines was during her honeymoon after marriage to King Juan Carlos de Borbon on May 14, 1962. Ambassador Domecq shared this bit of trivia as he ran through with us the highlights of the hectic schedule of the Queen’s visit.

Ambassador Domecq said the frequent visits here of Queen Sofia simply underscore how Spain looks at the Philippines with extreme concern and importance. As we learned from our Philippine history in school, we were under Spanish colonial rule for 333 years until we gained our country’s independence on June 12, 1898. 

Based on the Queen’s schedule of activities, she would visit several provinces which recently received development cooperation projects with funding assistance from the Spanish government through its development cooperation agency, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID).  

In his Facebook account, Albay Governor Joey Salceda wrote yesterday how they look forward to Queen Sofia’s visit to their home province at this time of the year coinciding with the rainy season. The province of Albay is one of the major beneficiaries of the Spanish development aid on disaster-mitigation project. His post:

“On July 4, in good weather, there will be a visit to Albay’s Camalig School and evacuation center, the hospital in Ligao City and the Academy of Climate Change in Legaspi City where the Queen will meet with United Nations representatives, the Legaspi mayor and host Gov. Joey Salceda. She will exchange views with local mayors on Spanish programs aimed at strengthening local governance. Camalig Central School was renovated with Spanish funds as an evacuation center for 60,000 calamity victims. The Academy of Climate Change, which Queen Sofia will visit, was granted by Spain 18 million euros (P958 million).”

Should weather not cooperate, Domecq disclosed the alternative program would simply change the venue of the Queen’s audience with Gov. Salceda and other Bicol government officials and leaders that would be held instead in Makati City. The ambassador also prepared to take Queen Sofia to visit instead Calamba, Laguna where a dual-tech vocational school has been put up also out of Spanish aid. 

In 2011 alone, Ambassador Domecq noted the Spanish government’s official development assistance to the Philippines amounted to a total of 28.9 million euros — about P1.6 to P1.8 billion — in grants and loans from AECID. This, despite Spain’s own economic and financial problems back home.

Just last Monday, Agence France Presse news agency reported Spain formally requested a banking rescue of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) from their Eurozone partners. So far, there is no exact figure yet mentioned on how much aid needs to be delivered to Spanish banks hobbled by the property bubble that imploded in 2008. 

Spain’s banking distress will be the focus of a meeting of the 17-nation eurozone finance and economic ministers on July 9. Analysts warned that a full-blown bailout for Spain, the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, would dwarf the rescues of Ireland, Greece and Portugal and strain the resources of the bloc to the limit. 

Spain, reportedly with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is arguing strongly in favor of eurozone powers lending money directly to troubled banks, thus avoiding an increase in Madrid’s sovereign debt burden. 

It is not as if the Philippine pledge of $1 billion loan to the IMF would matter that much to Spain’s current banking troubles. Even with that meager amount, the Philippines could help avert a much bigger financial disaster of global magnitude and prevent its potential adverse impact to our own economy.

But the amount is enough recognition of our country’s willingness and capability to share responsibility to help keep the global economy running in fair or bad weather.