Diplomats are like migratory birds, they come and go. Unlike migratory birds, we build our nest and make a life in our country of accreditation for three, four or more years. When we leave, we are replaced, in a perpetual cycle. After having been ambassador of Romania to the Philippines, with concurrent accreditation to Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands, for four years and a half, it is now time to conclude my mandate and return to Romania. It is a bitter-sweet moment. I will be close to my mother, who needs me. I will also miss the friends I made here. The Filipinos who graciously shared the last years with me will remain beautiful memories in my cherished photo albums.
At the beginning of April, Filipino high-officials and diplomats listened to the dean of the diplomatic corps, the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown, at the anniversary of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Philippines. He mentioned “the grace of encounter“ as the essence of diplomacy. Like him, I believe that the essence of everything we do, as humans and especially as diplomats, stems from encounters with people, be they officials, businesspeople, media, artists or ordinary people. In the Philippines, I have been blessed with the grace of numerous, exciting and enriching encounters.
The main idea as I depart has to do with confidence. I am fully confident that the Philippines is on the right track and looking towards her best years, ahead of us. In every day spent here I have perceived the energy of the people, innovation resources, hunger for success, resilience, adaptability and drive of Filipinos. At the embassy, we have had highly-effective, hard-working and brilliant Filipino colleagues. They are the guarantee that the future – of both the Philippines and our bilateral relations – is sunny.
The timing of my mandate was good. I found the Philippines like a gem in the process of being discovered, a country of heart-stopping natural beauty and rich biodiversity, yet unaffected by over-tourism and other modern ills; the home of a beautifully varied and healthy cuisine, mostly home-made and incredibly tasty; a land of sports champions, already famous or in the making. I fell in love with ube, calamansi, Philippine chocolate, pili nuts, as well as piña, abaca, inabel and other unique fabrics, before the world at large discovered them.
For me as a diplomat with previous postings in two continents, it was unexpectedly easy to adapt to working in the Philippines. The leadership and state institutions, primarily the DFA, have done everything possible to make our life easier and our work more effective. In the Philippines, a foreign diplomat can achieve access and weave support networks with relative ease. Officials, even the ones that are high up, are helpful, open and as generous as humanly possible with their time and wisdom. The Philippines is an old democracy, one of the oldest in Asia, which speaks the same language like us, in Europe: the language of principles, rule of law and respect for human rights and international law. It has been an honor to work here as Romania’s envoy.
With the Romanian embassy team, we helped renew bilateral dialogues; laid the ground for more than a handful of meetings between our respective foreign secretaries; put maritime security high on the agenda of our common concerns; revitalized relations between universities in our countries and incentivized the Filipino students to apply for the scholarship programs of the Romanian government and the EU; made sure that tourism is growing in both directions; appointed a new honorary consul of Romania in Mindanao and intensified the excellent cooperation with the consuls a.h. in Luzon and the Visayas; helped Romanian IT and AI companies establish in the Philippines; worked for easing the development of trade and investment links; were inspired by the Women in Diplomacy books released by the DFA and published our own volume – Feminine Voices of the Romanian Diplomacy – in 2023; brought over new Romanian movies and other cultural events; put Cebu in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only Asian city where our record-holder classical musicians ?tefan Doniga and Diana Jipa held concerts in 2024, as part of a tour on all the six continents; worked with amazing Filipino artists – writers, designers, singers, ballet dancers, videographers, cultural managers, etc.
We have just tried to do our very best and sometimes we have succeeded. Working together with our like-minded Filipino friends we have achieved things that I am proud of, primarily the reset of bilateral relations which are recovering their previous dynamism and shine, in our mutual interest. Much more remains to be done, including in view of the celebration of 55 years of diplomatic relations in 2027. At present, I trust that the Philippines and Romania are on the way to becoming again reliable friends and privileged partners in creating a new prosperity while preserving together old and invaluable traditions.
As I prepare to leave, my overriding thought is gratitude towards the amazing people of the Philippines. The grace of encounters with them, every day, made my work here meaningful. I hope to be able to come back, over and over again, and to claim that I was a part – a very small part, indeed – of the success of this blessed nation.
Maraming salamat at hanggang sa muli, Pilipinas!
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R?du?a Dana Matache is the Ambassador of Romania to the Philippines.