MALACAÑANG on Sunday confirmed the upcoming state visit of Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta to the Philippines this week.
In a statement, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy V. Garafil announced Horta will arrive in the country on November 10, 2023, to strengthen Philippines-Timor Leste bilateral relations.
“President Ramos-Horta’s state visit to the Philippines will tackle the various areas of cooperation between the Philippines and Timor-Leste in terms of technical, political, educational and economic partnerships,” Garafil said.
Horta will be meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as well as officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The President and Horta already met during a bilateral meeting at the sidelines of the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Indonesia last May.
In their talk at the event, Marcos expressed his continued support for Timor Leste’s bid to become a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Pending its membership application, Timor Leste participated at the 42nd Asean Summit as an observer.
Last year, Asean issued a statement that it decided, in principle, to admit Timor Leste as its 11th member.
However, Asean said Timor Leste, which became independent from Indonesia in 2002, must still complete the necessary requirements before it is given full membership.
Philippine role
The Philippines played a key role in Timor Leste’s long road to independence. In 1994, the First Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet), an initiative by international nongovernment organizations (NGO) to help the East Timorese gain independence after 20 years of annexation by Indonesia, was mounted in Manila. The Philippine government then under President Fidel V. Ramos banned Apcet and refused entry to some famous international delegates, including Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of then French Prime Minister. However, NGOs local and foreign proceeded to hold it, thus shining a light for the first time in two decades on their struggles.
Among those who led the Philippine initiative was noted activist and patriot Renato “RC” Constantino Jr., a friend of Ramos Horta.
When the tensions ran high between Indonesian militias and East Timorese just before the new millennium, it was mainly Philippine Christian groups who provided refuge to East Timorese who were being harassed by the militias.
Subsequently, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin lent support to a civilian-led campaign, including by businessmen, to help the East Timor independence campaign.
Fears by the government that the support for East Timor’s freedom campaign would strain relations between Asean neighbors Manila and Jakarta were short-lived, as the two long-time allies soon restored complete ties.