Welcoming Spanish VIP’s

No less than the Number Two man in Spain’s official hierarchy flew to Manila for the opening at the National Museum of "Philippines: Gateway to the Orient from Legazpi to Malaspina" which exhibition marks Legazpi’s fourth birth centenary.

Sec. Casares’s entourage included Dr. Felipe Garin, president of the Spanish Cultural Action Abroad; Gerardo Bugallo, Anton Arubulu, Mayor of Zumarraga, Legazpi’s birthplace; Luis Francisco Garcia-Cerezo, Jorge de Orueta and "balikbayan" Carlos Morales.

Spanish Ambassador Ignacio Sagaz and his wife Aurora welcomed guest of honor Casares and the other dignitaries at a reception in their residence. Sec. Casares gave a few remarks in English at simple ceremonies during which Carlos Cevallos, president of the Association of Former Scholars and Ibero-American and Filipino Graduates in Spain, conferred honorary scholarships on Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Sen. Edgardo Angara, Speaker Jose de Venecia, and Presidential Senior Adviser Roberto Romulo, with Jorge Manrique reading the citations. The Isabela la Catolica award was conferred on Fr. Pedro Galende osa by the King of Spain through Sec. Casares.

As he mingled with the crowd, Sec. Casares impressed everyone as a highly engaging, amiable VIP. According to his cousin Georgina Padilla MacCrohon, sponsor of the Premio Zobel, Sec. Casares had spent about six months in the Philippines some years back, which stay left him with pleasant memories of the country and its people. Incidentally, his studies in England account for his slight British accent.

Earlier, Roberto Romulo hosted a luncheon in honor of Sec. Casares and his group at the Taipan Tower Club which served an epicurean Chinese menu. Also present were the aforementioned Filipino officials (except Alberto Romulo), Conchitina Bernardo, wife of our ambassador to Spain–she graciously distributed tiny gold pins showing the Philippine and Spanish flags–former Ambassadors to Spain Juan Rocha and Isabel Wilson, Georgina, Marixi Prieto, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Andres Soriano III, Jaime Laya, Pedro Roxas and Bambi Harper.

Mr. Romulo’s welcome address called to mind the eloquence of CPR.