Till we meet again

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

In last year’s US Independence Day and Philippine-American Friendship Day celebration, I wrote that the invitation became all the more special because it also served as the farewell party of His Excellency Sung Kim, ambassador of the United States of America to the Philippines. 

We were informed then that my dear friend would be ending his tour of duty to the Philippines that year. 

But, as my friends in the diplomatic circles would bear me out, the plethora of farewell and recognition parties for Ambassador Sung Kim would be one for the Guinness Book of World Records. It started a year ago with the Fourth of July celebration and is still going strong to date.

There were a host of reasons why this was so, but this would not be the space to discuss them.

Suffice it to say, and for whatever reasons there were, we did not complain. 

If we had our way, we would want him to stay here forever.  

“I am privileged to have called the Philippines home now for more than three years,” the good Ambassador said in his message for this year’s 244th U.S. Independence Day celebration. 

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration was done virtually.

There is a quote from one of my favorite American authors and poets, Maya Angelou, that says, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The Filipino people will never forget how Ambassador Sung Kim made them feel, and how he made me and my family feel. 

Ambassador Sung Kim and his charming wife, Jae Eun Chung, have always been most gracious to us.

In his Fourth of July message, Ambassador Sung Kim said that “friends help each other in times of need, or as I’ve heard here, the weight becomes lighter when we help each other — ang mabigat ay gumagaan, kapag nagtutulungan.” 

This special friendship between the Philippines and the United States was most evident in their partnership to combat COVID-19.

According to a report, since March 2020, the United States, through the USAID, the Department of Defense, and the State Department, has invested more than P1 billion ($22.6 million) in the Philippines’ COVID-19 response. 

The same report states that many of USAID’s ongoing development projects valued at more than P5 billion ($100 million) a year across the health, economic development, governance, education, and environment sectors have been mobilized to address the impacts of the virus.

Ambassador Sung Kim had mentioned that complementing this support were donations of food, technology, and other assistance from US companies. He was likewise moved by the dedication of US companies to assist Filipino employees.

Ties between the Philippines and the US, between Filipinos and Americans, grew stronger under Ambassador Sung Kim’s watch. 

Who would ever forget the return of the historic Balangiga Bells in 2018 to their rightful place in Balangiga, Eastern Samar, after being kept for more than a century as “war booty” by the US Army? 

Ambassador Sung Kim then heralded the return as a “clear affirmation of the United States’ commitment to the Philippines.”

We also must not forget how the plan to abrogate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) was suspended because of continued and increased US cooperation and support in light of geopolitical tensions in the West Philippine Sea and the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ambassador Sung Kim worked closely with Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, our hardworking and politically astute top diplomat to the United States, to ensure its continuance.  

Continued Philippine-US cooperation was seen as key in capacity-building efforts to deal with those two issues.  

It was also under Ambassador Sung Kim’s leadership that US support for educational reform was strengthened and reaffirmed. Strong partnerships, such as that between our two countries, are necessary in addressing gaps to our educational system, especially under the current milieu of blended distance and online learning. 

There is so much more to mention about the various invaluable contributions and support made possible under Ambassador Sung Kim’s tour of duty here in the country, but there isn’t enough space to mention them all.

All I know is, with his tour of duty coming to a close and with his new assignment to a neighboring ASEAN nation, there is sadness felt with the departure of someone who was more than just a topnotch diplomat but who was also a dear friend. 

You will be missed, Ambassador Sung Kim, but hopefully under the new normal, when travel would take on some form of regularity, we’d be able to get the chance to visit you in your new posting, or perhaps get the chance to round up your friends whenever you are in town. 

That we may once again see fireworks light up the evening sky as it used to be on the Fourth of July. 

Godspeed, my friend!