Angara Heads Senate Delegation to Spain

A senate delegation to Spain had signed a cooperation agreement with the Spanish Parliament, explored ways to increase trade and investments between the two countries and obtained a firm commitment from Spain to help Philippine education and sports, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, the delegation head, said.

The four senators also visited the Basque country, the native region of dominant Philippine business families such as the Ayalas, Elizaldes and Aboitizes, and made a sentimental trip to the hometowns of two familiar figures in Philippine history ? explorers Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Fray Andres de Urdaneta.

Philippine Ambassador to Spain Joseph D. Bernardo said that the trip of Angara and Senators Franklin Drilon, Juan Flavier and Ramon Magsaysay Jr., from June 23 to July 1, was the first official visit of Philippine senators to the country, which had the Philippines as a colony for 400 years.

Under the Agreement on Parliamentary Cooperation signed by the Philippine Senate and the Senate of the Kingdom of Spain in Madrid, the two parliamentary bodies agreed to exchange parliamentary delegations and organize parliamentary forums to discuss vital issues such as poverty alleviation, terrorism, securing the peace and human rights.

The two bodies also agreed to exchange information on administrative, financial, and technical matters as well as topics of common concern.

Angara signed for the Philippine Senate while Senator Jose Manuel Barquero signed for the Senate of the Kingdom of Spain.

During the Madrid trip, Joan Clos Matheu, minister of trade and tourism, committed to help promote the Philippines as a premier Asian destination among Spanish tourists and within the Spanish tourism circles.

Virgilio Zapatero, the president of the Universidad de Alcala, said the major university will soon establish a chair for Philippine Studies.

In Sevilla, which is in the heart of the Andalusian region, Global Sevilla, a development arm of the city, has agreed to carry out development projects in the Philippines, particularly in Aurora, Angara's home province.

The Confederation or Businessmen of Andalusia, a business group of 700 members that include companies with businesses in the Philippines, pledged to the senators that its members will help explore ways to intensity trade and investments in the Philippines, specifically in tourism and agriculture.

Possible investments in renewable energy and fisheries were also taken up by the four senators and Bernardo with government and private sector groups in Seville.

The Seville-based Universidad Pablo Olavide has a current academic cooperation agreement with the Manila ? based University of Sto. Tomas while the Andalusian Football Federation has been helping train Filipino football coaches and players for the past three years.

In May 2006, the Philippine Embassy in Spain signed a formal agreement with Andalusia on fostering trade and investments between the Philippines and that important Spanish region.

In Basque country, the four senators basked in the shared history of the region and the Philippines.

Angara told Juan Jose Ibarretxe, president of the Basque Autonomous Government, that some of the dominant business families in the Philippines had come from the Basque region and these include the Ayalas, the Elizaldes and the Aboitizes. Drilon said that the early Basque immigrants pushed the development of the sugar industry in Iloilo and made Iloilo City a major port and trading area.

The Basque diaspora and its global reach and influence was also discussed with Oscar Alvarez Gile, an expert on Basque migration at the University of Basque Country. Alvarez said that his university is now training a pool of young academics with specialization on Philippine studies and affairs.

But the high point of the senators' trip was a visit to the town of Zumarraga, hometown of conquistador and explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Ordizia, hometown of Fray Andres to Urdaneta.

Urdaneta, after which a major Philippine city is named, is known in Spain for preparing the navigational map between the Philippines and Mexico.

In the three-leg trip of the senators to Spain, they were assisted all the way by Bernardo, and the following embassy officials : Consul General Anna de Feria, third secretary Marciano de Borja and attaché Denise Raymond.