MOST members of the local diplomatic community will talk about a natural disaster in the Philippines after it has struck, being miles away from the proverbial “ground zero.”
The Republic of Poland’s Chargé d’affaires (CDA) Jarosław Roman Szczepankiewicz, however, is a rare exception, as he can very well say that he had been where “the action is:” in the middle of a maelstrom that raged across the country’s typhoon belt—while at the heart of the Yuletide holidays.
At the onset of our interview, Szczepankiewicz revealed his close encounter with a local calamity when Typhoon Ursula (international code name Phanfone) struck during his visit to the town of Marabut, Samar—on December 25, to be exact.
“It was the first time I experienced a typhoon while having Christmas dinner,” he told Envoys&Expats.
After the evening meal, he thought the worst was over. But after a few minutes, the wind came back with renewed strength from the opposite direction. “Water came from the ocean. It was then I realized we were in the eye.”
“In Poland, we have the wind blowing in one direction; not two,” the CDA shared. “But I really appreciate the courage of Filipinos returning to their normal way of life, rebuilding houses and cleaning roads.”
He said it happened at Christmas time, when everybody should have been thinking about family celebrations. “There was no electricity, [but] everybody worked [to restore a sense of normalcy].”
Aware that local typhoons are named alphabetically, the Polish embassy official knew Ursula came before year-end, when 21 have already roared through the Philippines. He remembered Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), the strongest in history, which in 2013 easily was double the strength of Ursula.
Upon seeing a Filipina praying at the inn where he was staying, it was just then that he felt safe inside the hotel that shielded everyone from the elements.
Speaking of prayers, it seems that Poland contributed a dose of divine intervention, as its first nationals were men of the frock.
Those who first arrived in the Philippines in the 15th century were two remarkable Jesuit missionaries: The first died in Japan after leaving Manila; the other left for China, and not for long returned to Manila, where he spent the rest of his days.
Records reveal that one of them was Wojciech Męciński, a Jesuit from Kraków, who participated in missionary activities in Japan, China and Vietnam. In 1642, Męciński arrived from Vietnam along with a large group of fellow Jesuits. He stayed in Manila for a few months before being deployed to his second journey to Japan, where he was martyred in Nagasaki on March 23, 1642.
The second Pole to arrive in the Philippines was another Jesuit missionary: Jan Chryzostom Bąkowski from Częstochowa. Bąkowski initially participated in missionary activities in China, particularly in Jiangsu. However, he was arrested and sent to Canton, released and deported for Manila in 1730 where he evangelized the Chinese-Filipino community in Parian until his death in 1732. He was buried in the Manila Cathedral.
Aside from Bąkowski, several Polish Catholic clergies have also stayed in the archipelago during the Spanish period, including Władysław Michał Zaleski, who had served as papal delegate to the East Indies from 1886 to 1916.
Another important missionary was Cantius J. Kobak, a Franciscan. His works on history, culture, the arts and language of Eastern Visayas left an unforgettable impact in hearts of people during his stay in Samar from 1959 to 1989 as foreigner, Pole, missionary, writer and researcher. He was given the highly respected title, “Historian of Samar” in 2009.
Bells in bulk
MANY might not be aware of it, but Poles actually excel in bell-foundry, having created the world’s largest swinging kind that weighs as much as 10 African elephants, and is as tall as a giraffe.
Jan Felczyński Church Bell Manufactory (known locally as R&F Church Service Philippines), created the humongous bell. It is made from bronze, weighs 55 tons, is over 4 meters high and has a diameter of 4.5 meters. To make it swing, four linear motors are needed, which also the largest one of its kind in the world made so far.
Until now, R&F has been the bulk supplier of bells for Philippine churches, “especially now that [the Philippines is approaching its 500th year of the Christianization,” Szczepankiewicz noted.
“How else do you celebrate [such a highly significant] occasion, but with the sound of bells?” he exclaimed. “We will see and hear R&F audio system installation in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Manila Cathedral soon.
“When Cardinal [Luis Antonio G.] Tagle visits the cathedral in the future, he’ll have an excellent sound system, whose contract he himself approved.”
R&F opened its office in Manila in June 2019. Recently, the finest bells from the Polish firm have been installed in the Remedios Parish Church in Cebu City.
Poles in PHL
IT is believed that the first non-religious Pole to arrive in the Philippines was Maksymilian Teofil Gumplowicz. Between 1883 and 1886, he served as a doctor for the navy of the Dutch East Indies (what is now modern-day Indonesia). During his tour of duty with the Dutch navy, Gumplowicz visited not only islands throughout the Dutch East Indies, but also the Philippines, British Malaya and New Guinea, Wikipedia said.
When the United States colonized the Philippines in the early part of the 20th Century, Szczepankiewicz shared that his countrymen who came to Manila at that time were mainly of Polish-American descent.
The CDA volunteered that as of the last decade, Polish citizenship represents the third-largest Central European community in the country, after Hungarians and Albanians. Probably the most famous of them is legendary cager and former Sen. Robert Jaworski. It is the same for actor Zaldy Zshornack, a co-star actor of former President Joseph Estrada, as well as a few others.
Historical sources have it that the colonial period in the early 1900s saw the rapid growth in the local Polish circles, although most share American ancestry. Prominent Poles who visited the Philippines during that time included pianists—Aleksander Tansman, who played concerts in 1933 on his triumphant world tour; and Artur Rubenstein, who played a concert in Manila, in 1935.
Relations with Russia
AFTER decades have passed, Poland has reestablished its embassy in Manila, in 2018. Szczepankiewicz said he had just presided over the opening of the Polish Embassy in Manila last year, and made operational “all consular functions.”
The Polish diplomat explained that the Philippines cut off diplomatic ties after the Central European country was overrun by the former Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, Poland and Russia have a “complicated relationship.” Recently, President Vladimir Putin attempted to conceal the historical facts that the Nazi invasion of Poland came just a week after Hitler’s Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov had signed a nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939. A secret clause in the pact carved up Central Europe into Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence, allowing the two dictators—one fascist, the other communist—to occupy and dismantle Poland.
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Poland was invaded first by Nazi Germany, then by the Soviet Russia two weeks later. Some 6 million Polish citizens were killed in the war.
According to Szczepankiewicz, Putin’s accusation of Poland starting the war is Russia’s way of covering its internal problems. The Polish envoy relayed that Russia is encountering economic difficulties at the moment because of the sanctions imposed by the US that “made problematic selling to Europe its gasoline via unfinished Nord Stream II Pipeline, a major sources of the Eurasian country’s income.”
“America is weakening Europe’s energy dependence from Russia, [while] we want to develop Poland’s multiple sources of energy and not to rely on one supplier,” the CDA told this writer. “That’s what the Russians are trying to do. They want to make us and [the rest of] Europe rely on them only as a supplier.”
Economic symmetry
“HOW is the Polish economy doing?” this writer asked.
“It’s booming and growing,” was Szczepankiewicz’s straightforward answer.
The CDA added that Poland’s economic strength is derived from its “mixed economy.” “An economy based on only one [sector is weak and is] exposed to major fluctuations. So generally, European economies are diversified. If a sector is losing, another should take the lead. That’s the advantage of variety.”
He enumerated products Poland exports to the Philippines, aside from bells, like machines, turbines, and others hinged on high-end technology. On the other hand, his country imports from Manila electronic components, computer hardware and the like—“the same [ones] that you export to the US.”
“Poland also exports food—mainly dairy products, as well as Sikorsky helicopters for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
“I [just learned that the] Philippine Air Force is heading for eventually a new order of an additional six Sikorsky choppers, but with more advanced configuration,” Szczepankiewicz shared. “It was the Department of National Defense that made the purchase.”
“This is the kind of symmetry that’s mainly built on economic interest,” he averred, remarking that the Philippines is now ranked the third-best place for investment, as far as Poland is concerned.
“The country is full of opportunities. Its economic boom has attracted Polish companies to invest,” he continued. “[They have arrived anew] in the Philippines, and there are also Filipino companies in Poland.”
The International Container Terminal Services Inc., or ICTSI, has invested $50 million in Poland’s Baltic Container Port. Another is ISOC Group, a Philippine investment-management service company, who invested in Poland €248,000,000 for “purchasing office complexes to rent to foreign companies.”
The CDA named Pietrucha Manufacturing Philippines, located in Mariveles, Bataan, as a producer of eco-friendly vinyl sheets. Its products were recently used to protect Tubbataha Reef in Palawan. Another is Polish start-up NextBank, which offers rural banks a cloud platform to run like a modern bank.
There are between 2,000 and 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in his country, and their numbers are continually growing.
He said Poland is big in greenhouse farming, producing fruits and vegetables—thanks to OFWs employed in that particular industry.
“Filipinos fit very well working in greenhouses because of their resistance to high temperatures,” Szczepankiewicz noted.
Cultural ties
POLAND’S former ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti said he would like to see closer cultural exchanges between our two countries. He pointed out that his motherland has participated in the European Film Festival, while Polish authors have translated several books into Filipino.
While on his three-year tour of duty, Szczepankiewicz, who is from Gdansk, said he would try to help educate Filipinos in knowing more about his country, and also for Polish citizens to know more about the Philippines.
A music buff and a violinist, Szczepankiewicz shared that many Filipinos know the moves of the mazurka, but have yet to recognize that is of Polish beginnings. Originally from the cultural region of Mazovia, one of Poland’s national folk dances is usually set at a lively tempo.
On the other hand, he said Poland had given Filipinos “Papaya,” a disco-funk hit from the 1970s by Polish jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziak. It later turned into a global dance fad. (And who would forget ’80s/’90s pop-jazz diva Basia?)
This year, Szczepankiewicz said he would bring over to Manila an excellent musician to mark the 250th birthday anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin, a great Polish pianist and composer.
Tourist draw
WE asked, “How many tourists visit Poland yearly?”
Szczepankiewicz surmised about the millions from around the world who drop by to see attractions of the country. For one, the Wieliczka Salt Mine had attracted about 1.86 million tourist visitors in 2019. Krakow, the old Polish capital, has preponderant old churches, museums and the Royal Castle. There are also pilgrimages to Wadowice, the birthplace of Karol Josef Wojtyla, who later would be known as Saint (Pope) John Paul II.
On the other hand, the CDA stated that the number of Polish tourists who set foot to the Philippines amounted 16,000 according to last year’s numbers, and is growing by about 6 percent yearly. “They go to ‘classic’ destinations such as Bohol, Palawan and Negros,” but singled out Cebu as being “more attractive, because it has an international airport” which can accommodate global carriers.
Located in the heart of Europe, Poland, the diplomat volunteered, could be reached from the Philippines via Singapore; Doha, Qatar; the United Arab Emirates and Istanbul. From these places, their own carrier, PLL LOT, will fly passengers to the capital of Warsaw.
“We need to project Poland to the Philippines, because [both are] far apart. Many Filipinos do not know where Poland is, thinking we are a communist country.”
The Polish emissary noted the same about his countrymen’s unfamiliarity of the Philippines. He hopes that OFWs would help spread knowledge about Poland, many of them making mutual visits to Manila and Warsaw and also strengthening people-to-people relations.
Speaking of family, Szczepankiewicz spends his free time by scuba diving in various local spots with his only son. He said he would like to dig more into the history of Polish-Filipino relations, and noted, “there are a lot of interesting places in Manila. Only, the main problem is its traffic.”
If Szczepankiewicz can weather the wrath of Philippine storms, we dare say, the city’s perennial gridlock will be for him but a breeze to endure.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano