the very human president

He is His Excellency Ramos-Horta. The President of Timor-Leste. This statement pierced my very Filipino heart in a painfully good way.

"Do not underestimate the hope and the resilience of the Filipinos!"

That was part of his opening statement in the Bridges Seminar held at DLSU-Manila today. A seminar that tried to answer the BIG question of "Is long lasting peace an attainable dream?"

Coming from a Nobel Peace prize winner, 1996, that statement carried so much weight. It is refreshing to hear statement like that from a very politically seasoned and observant foreigner. Refreshing in a sense because if you are at it, doing your contribution in nation building, "it" can be such a burden. Sometimes, it feels like a thankless fight. Thank God He reminds that this work is for Him.

It is alleviating to hear that someone appreciate the fight the Filipino people are doing unlike some Filipino political leaders, in my opinion, who has given up. Given up because all they do is take, graft and corruption. They have forgotten to build.

It was also nice to hear that here is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who said that do not believe freedom fighters who has said that they do not care about their family because all they care about is the country. To him, that's hogwash = )

But the most priceless gift that President Ramos Horta gave me is the realization of the link and the shared history of all Southeast Asian nations. He gave me the realization that we are not alone in building a nation. A country. A Philippines not as a former colony of Spain. Not as a former colony of United States of America. Not the Philippines that was occupied by Japan.

But a Philippines as an Asian nation.