YOUR EXCELLENCIES

Friendships among nations can never be undervalued for the blessings they bring. Political goodwill, economic activity, national and regional security, and cultural exchange—to name a few. On the front line of striking and strengthening such friendships are men and women honed in tact and diplomacy: the ambassadors. They go into another country to represent their own, promote trade and cultural relations, encourage investments from home to host—and vice versa. In the following pages are nine of them, some at the beginning of their diplomatic mission while others in midstream. Curiously, everyone, bar none, is already holding something dear about the Philippines.

STEVEN JAMES ROBINSON, AO

AMBASSADOR OF AUSTRALIA

The Philippines is familiar territory to His Excellency Steven James Robinson. He spent one New Year’s vacation in Zamboanga and Cebu as a university student travelling with his parents; he visited several times in the last 10 years as a government official involved in the collaboration between Australia and the Philippines on counter-terrorism. What he discovered then was still what greeted him now: “Prior to my arrival I expected to find the same warm, friendly, and generous people I had met many years before. I was not disappointed. Our welcome, particularly for my wife who was new to the Philippines, was all I could have hoped for. The people are what makes the Philippines; the country’s beauty and potential are additional bonuses,” he says. Only eight months into his diplomatic assignment, he has already captured a lasting memory: meeting