Philippines participates in International Conference

Title

Language

English

Year

1943

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Philippines Participates in International Conferences Ever since President Quezon established the headquar ters of the Commonwealth Government in Washington, the Philippines has been invited to the most important international conferences held here in the United States. In all of them, Philippine delegates participate in the pro ceedings as representatives of a sovereign nation. Invariably, the presence of Philippine representatives arouses great interest in these gatherings. People who have never before heard of the Philippines now want full in formation on its geography, political history and economic development. Philippine delegates are frequently asked to read papers on Philippine topics and their audiences al ways seem to want more. Beyond doubt, interest in the country has never before been so high as it is now. When the Filipino and American soldiers made their sacrificial stand on Bataan and Corregidor, they held, for an unfor gettable moment, the concentrated attention of the world. That interest has remained at a high pitch, as indicated by the great number of current books about the Philip pines and the popularity of the Philippines as a subject on the lecture platform. The world eagerly awaits the sequel to Bataan and Corregidor. Some of these conferences are informal and serve merely as a forum for exchange of opinion and public discussion of vital subjects. Such, for example, was the Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations held at Mont Tremblant, Canada, in December, 1942. Others are official con sultations between heads of representative governments where high policies are discussed. An outstanding example of this is the Pacific War Council. A list of the meetings, conventions, and conferences in which the Philippines was represented will show how busy Philippine delegates have been. I. Eighth Conference, Institute of Pacific Relations, Mont Tremblant, December 2 to 14, 1942. Delegates: Joaquin M. Elizalde Arturo B. Rotor Urbano A. Zafra Sebastian Ugarte Francis B. Harrison II. Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, April 9 and 10, 1943. Delegates: Jaime Hernandez Arturo B. Rotor Sotero Laurel Vice-President Osmena was one of the three speakers at the final session. III. International Committee for Cooperative Recon struction, Washington, March 29. 1943. Representative: Urbano A. Zafra IV. United Nations Conference on Food and /Agricul ture, Hot Springs, May 18 to June 3, 1943. Delegates: Joaquin M. Elizalde Arturo B. Rotor Urbano A. Zafra Juan B. Barretto Amando M. Dalisay Basilio J. Valdes Currently taking place are talks between the United States Government and other governments on currency {Continued, on page 5) not for the pressing official duties which require my pres ence in Washington these next few weeks. I sincerely re gret that I am unable to be with you in this important gathering. "I have made arrangements, however, for Mr. Manuel A. Adeva, Nationals Division Assistant, to attend the Con vention as my representative. He is vitally interested not only in the community organizations, but also in all your problems. He will surely assist you in every way possible to insure the success of your deliberations. *'Our country is still in the hands of the enemy and may remain so for many more years. Nevertheless, I have no misgivings as to the final outcome of this war. I sincerely hope that when the time comes for us to be in our own homes and country again, you and I will find ourselves more prepared and better equipped to discharge our re spective responsibilities. Those of us in the United States can and should play an important parr in the post-war reconstruction period of the Philippines. "I trust that you will consider seriously in your meet ings, not only how best you can help win the war, but also how effectively you can contribute to the building up of a new Philippines." On the last day of the convention, a memorial service was held in memory of the late Francisco Varona, who as Nationals Division Assistant to the Philippine Resident Commissioner, fathered the idea of Filipino conventions attended by delegates from different parts of the Pacific Coast. The First Filipino Inter-Community Convention was held in Sacramento in 1938. It resulted in the creation of the Nationals Division of the Philippine Commissioner’s Office. This division has supervision over the affairs of Filipinos in the United States and Hawaii. The Organization is composed of the organized Filipino communities in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washing ton. These community organizations are officially recog nized by the Office of the Philippine Resident Commis sioner in Washington, which keeps in touch with them on matters relating to Filipino nationals. On the last day of the convention, Antonio A. Gonzalez was reelected president. A similar convention is scheduled next year. 2 Philippines

Media