THE country of Chile is one of the farthest diplomatic postings at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Located 17,140 kilometers from the Philippines, it would take you more than a day to reach via Australia.
Just like our country, it was once a colony of Spain; thus, Spanish is the national language of its people. Not only that, its capital city of Santiago resembles Manila in many ways; it has an extended urban area, consisting of several towns that have merged with the city’s central into its suburbs.
Despite its distance, we do have a diplomatic representative in Chile in the person of Ambassador Maria Consuelo Puyat-Reyes; she is also concurrently the country’s ambassador to Bolivia and Ecuador. We were able to communicate with the good ambassador with the assistance of Therese Cantada, current head of the Economic and Counselor Affairs in Chile, and who was also once a member of the Philippine shooting team.
A former representative of Makati City, Puyat-Reyes is fluent in French, the language of diplomacy, English, Filipino and Spanish. In fact, it isn’t surprising to find her in public service, considering that she comes from a clan that counts among its members legislators, medical practitioners, businessmen and financiers, diplomats, social workers and writers.
Similar political experiences
What struck most the ambassador about Chile is its similarity with the Philippines. Both countries were once ruled by dictators.
“I think there are similarities in the experience of both countries with martial-law regimes,” Puyat-Reyes said, as she compared the regimes of Augusto Pinochet and Ferdinand Marcos. “Both countries were successfully able to overcome military rule with the restoration of their respective freedoms. These days, we enjoy this freedom even more thoroughly, because we know what it was like to live in a world where [previously] there was none.”
She said the citizens of both countries are also family oriented: “Both give prime importance on providing for and raising their families right. They are also very traditional. The children are close to their extended families.”
Puyat-Reyes also said both countries have a young population. This, she noted, would be interesting to observe in the years to come as the youth would eventually play an important role in helping their countries reach its potential, “and possibly take a more central role in their respective regions.”
‘Resilient, full of empathy’
Filipinos know very little about Chile, except that it is far from the country. However, in 2010, the South American country was placed under the spotlight when 33 Chilean miners, who were trapped underground for 69 days, were miraculously rescued and survived the ordeal. For a while, the miners, and Chile, were the darlings of the media.
“Was there anything Filipino miners could learn from the Chilean mining incident?” I asked.
“I think the best of the Chilean national community came out of that incident—resilient, full of empathy, with the families of the miners and the whole country becoming one in times of national strife, rallying behind the miners,” she said.
A regular day
Puyat-Reyes said her working day is no different from a usual day at the office: “In the middle of the day, I attend to the day-to-day workings of the embassy, just like someone in any management position, except for the fact that, most of the time, my job also requires me to attend receptions, pay courtesy calls on various officials, host luncheons for any number of things that aim to promote the Philippine interests.”
And, unlike other diplomatic postings that are concerned with the welfare of overseas Filipino workers, Chile has only 343 Filipino residents.
In 2002 the Filipino envoy had the opportunity to promote the Philippines with her appointment as president of the Instituto Asiático y del Pacifico de la Universidad Santo Tomás (Institute of Asia and the Pacific of the University of Santo Tomás).
Her stint in this posting allowed her to share with local students the traditions, cuisine, traditional dances, culture, commerce and industry, educational systems and tourism destinations in the Philippines.
“The University of Santo Tomás is the only university in Chile that has 24 branches based from the northern, central and southern provinces of Chile,” she explained.
In 2006 Puyat-Reyes received an honorary doctorate in International Relations from the Universidad Santo Tomás.
Honors received
Puyat-Reyes is also responsible for the establishment of the organization of the Chilean-Filipino Chamber of Commerce, and the Ecuadorian Philippine Association and the Philippine Association in Ecuador.
Since her appointment as ambassador to Chile, seven bilateral agreements have been signed in the areas of agriculture, mining, housing, tourism, education and trade, while cooperation and assessment programs were also established.
As a testament to her deep involvement in the fields of civic and social awareness during her tenure as Philippine envoy to Chile, Puyat-Reyes was awarded the medal Orden el mérito de Chile en el Grado de Gran Cruz at a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 23, 2010.
She was reappointed as Philippine ambassador to Chile, Ecuador and Peru from 2010 to 2016 by President Aquino. She also actively serves as a member of the Asean committee in Santiago, along with the diplomats from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
She said the aim is to enhance the economic and cultural development, social progress, regional stability and peaceful settlement of conflicts among member-countries.
Excellent relations
Puyat-Reyes said the Philippine and Chile have excellent relations despite the distance.
“On the trade front, I believe we will see 2015 to be the year when the level of trade will, indeed, pick up. This is due to the Philippines hosting the Apec Summit, and both countries wishing to have bilateral negotiations exactly for the purpose of enhancing trade between them,” she said.
According to her, the Philippine Embassy in Santiago continues with its campaign to lure Chilean tourists to visit the country, with the help of the tourism department’s “Its More Fun in the Philippines’s campaign.
She and her staff do their best not to miss any opportunity to promote the country in this remote part of the world by attending different food and tourism fairs.
She shared that she was able to realize her dream of seeing Philippine dried mangoes in Chilean markets, when Santiago allowed the entry of these fruits through the agriculture conglomerate Dole in 2014. She said she worked hard for the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture to approve the importation by Chile, not only of mangoes, but also banana chips and pineapple chips.
“My other achievements is the successful support the embassy extended to the Philippine firm Energy Development Corp. for acquiring concessions and meeting the Chilean officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Energy,” she added.
A great tourism destination
While Puyat-Reyes is busy selling the Philippines to Chileans as a tourism destination, she admitted that she has seen a lot of the country’s countryside. In fact, she said Filipinos who are looking for new destinations to travel to will find so many places to marvel at here, since Chile has some of the best natural wonders in the world, due mainly to the incredibly varied landscape.
“Up north, there is the Atacama Desert, Patagonia in the south, Easter Island, which is about four hours by plane from Santiago, to the West,” she said.
“There’s Santiago itself with its wonderful mix of European and distinctly South American flair,” Puyat-Reyes added.
Puyat-Reyes also said that Chileans are proud of their beaches: “But we’re from the Philippines, and I am convinced, without any bias, that we have the best beaches in the world.”
Puyat-Reyes said Chile has the best observatories in the world, lovely vineyards from which famous Chilean wines come from, and mountains for skiing in winter.
Because of its dry locations, Chile is home to three observatories, each designed for a particular purpose. This is where the European Extremely Large Telescope is located. Another is the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in the Alma Observatory, consisting of a group of up to 66 radio telescopes working together to study the universe located 5,000 meters above sea level in the Andes Mountain Range. The third, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope is a great astronomy project of US giant Internet Google, which aims to digitally film the entire area visible from the Earth.
An unforgettable experience
The ambassador shared an unforgettable experience she has had during her posting in Chile.
She was amazed at how Chilean President Michelle Bachelet found out that she figured in a car accident during the latter’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) in 2014.
While she was on her way to the Sona, her diplomatic car was bumped from behind by another car, and she failed to make it to the event.
“The President had seen that my seat beside the dean of the diplomatic corps, the Apostolic Nuncio, was empty. She instructed her aides to check if I was still at the Residence, and when they learned that I was not there, she then asked her aides to check if there was a car with a diplomatic plate that figured recently in an accident,” she narrated.
“Despite the harrowing experience, I shall never forget the attention that the President’s office extended to me during those times,” Puyat-Reyes said.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano