Thousands of Americans and Filipinos travel back and forth in visits between our two countries. But some visits stand out more than others.

Last week, Kobe Bryant visited the Philippines to promote his new Nike shoe, and also to offer clinics and share his basketball experience with Filipino children. His enthusiasm for the game and for the very youngest of his fans was obvious.

The next series of visits brings Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra to the Philippines. He brings with him an Assistant Miami Heat Coach and Sue Wicks, a WNBA star. They will share their coaching tips and concepts with their Philippine counterparts.

Photo by Kieth Allison

Heading across the Pacific to Washington D.C., Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. She will also visit New York, Chicago, and Guam to meet with Filipino-American communities.

Next to visit the Philippines is a U.S. aircraft carrier. The ship will pay a port call in the Philippines. The ship’s crew will participate in community projects with the Philippine Navy to include school refurbishing and coastal clean-up.

People often ask me why I travel so often around the Philippines and what sorts of activities I do on my visits. It is true that I do make a serious effort to visit different parts of the Philippines. This is a very diverse country and it is hard to get a good sense of the challenges and opportunities the country faces from behind a desk in Manila. The Unites States Government also has projects throughout the Philippines, so it is important for me to see the work we are doing in different areas. I confess that I also enjoy meeting different people, seeing the diverse cultures and even hearing the various languages spoken in each region. I learn best by seeing, although I do need to balance travel with my work load in Manila.

I just returned from a visit to Davao and here’s what I did in my 22 hour trip. I left Manila late Friday afternoon headed straight for Davao. From Davao airport, I went to the head offices of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) team. This team implements most of our development projects, through USAID, in Mindanao. Usually when I visit their offices, we are discussing projects or mapping out next steps. But this time, we dedicated our Friday evening to celebrating the completion of one phase of our work and the beginning of a new phase. Naturally we celebrated Filipino-style, with songs, dances, food, and speeches. And lots of photographs (thanks Sarah and Sonny for wielding the cameras)!

After that, a few of us went for a very tasty dinner at a Davao restaurant. After dinner, we headed to the offices of the Sutherland Corporation. Sutherland is a company based in New York that runs Business Process Outsourcing facilities around the world. Among their many branches in the Philippines is one in Davao that employs more than 1,000 people. While it might seem odd to visit a company at 9 p.m. in the evening, this is the time of day when their work really picks up since they support American clients and with the 12-hour time difference, it was Friday morning in the United States. I got to tour their facilities, meet their workers and have a very lively roundtable with their managers. By 10:30 p.m., we said goodnight and headed to the hotel to get some sleep.

Breakfast at the hotel the next morning and then an 8 a.m. session at a reunion meeting of young Mindanao leaders who had all been interns in the Philippine House of Representatives. Over the past five years nearly 200 young Mindanao students have participated in this internship in the Philippine House of Representatives. The United States, through USAID, was a partner in the program, providing financing. I had met many of them during their respective internships, so it was like a mini-reunion for me too. We did speeches and then a fun series of wacky photos. On the way out, the early rising Davao press corps got in on the action with some wacky photos themselves. Of course they also asked me good questions, which I tried to answer.

After a call-in to a radio show, I went to Ateneo de Davao University. The U.S. Embassy has an “American Corner” at the university that we stock with periodicals, computers and up-to-date information on the United States. While it is located in the university, it is open to everyone, free of charge. They very nicely let me use their space to meet with Mindanao bloggers. Such a great group, and so diverse! After about two minutes, we were all talking as if we’d been friends forever. Food, exercise, computers, music, basketball – we bounced from topic to topic. Other people using the American Corner kept looking over wondering what we were all laughing about. Time flew by and all too soon, it was time to leave. So I walked out through the Ateneo campus enjoying the relaxed scene of students talking in groups. Some were even nice enough to call out or wave to me.

By noon I was at the Philippine Military Headquarters of EASTMINCOM to pay my respects to the local military leadership. I have known the Commanding General in his previous posts, so it was nice to see him in another important role and to hear his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities he faces. My visit coincided with a conference EASTMINCOM was hosting so I got to greet other area police and military commanders when they took a break from their conference.

After that, we grabbed some lunch to eat in the car while we headed to the airport for our flight to return to Manila. This was my fourth trip to Davao and every time I learn something new, see something different and meet new faces. And I always enjoy every moment.

Me with Jay R, Nikki Gil, and Secretary Romulo at the Embassy party on July 2nd.

Many have asked me how the U.S. Embassy in Manila celebrated July Fourth – America’s Independence Day. So I thought I would write a quick wrap up of our 10 days of activities to celebrate American Independence, a day that is also celebrated in the Philippines as “U.S.-Philippine Friendship Day”. Having two reasons to celebrate made us want to extend our celebration beyond just one day and also to celebrate with other friends in the Philippines, beyond just Manila.

We started our July Fourth celebrations a few days earlier in Cebu where we joined with the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel to launch a “Great American Food Festival”. The event featured the ceremonial cutting of a huge hamburger (U.S. beef, naturally) followed by an All-American lunch. Guests from Cebu included local dignitaries and American residents in the city – all wearing red, white, and blue. I also had coffee with some of the American Chamber of Commerce members in Cebu and heard of the fabulous fete they planned for July 4 itself.

In Manila, we hosted an elegant Americana reception at our historic Embassy to mark the day. We had fireworks, Outback Steak, TGI Fridays, Starbucks, Haagan Daaz ice cream, California wines, and friends from across Philippine society to help us celebrate a special day for both of our nations. Talented Filipina singer Nikki Gil sang the Philippine National Anthem in the Embassy ballroom while Filipino-American star Jay R sang the “Star Spangled Banner”. Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo delivered a lovely speech about the history of our friendship and we both offered toasts to the enduring friendship between two great nations.

The American Association of the Philippines also held a relaxed family picnic to celebrate July 4 – complete with burgers, hotdogs, fireworks and lots of families and friends. And at the Embassy, our families shared a potluck picnic before heading to a nearby shopping mall to watch fireworks and enjoy their July 4 decorations and entertainment.

We finished our July Fourth celebrations on July 9 in Baguio City. The Baguio City Mayor joined us in opening a lovely photo exhibit, “Picturing America” at the SM Baguio Mall to highlight American history. That evening we all gathered at the historic American residence in Baguio City – where the World War II Japanese surrender in the Philippines was signed. Our evening event theme was “Red, White and Blue Jeans”. Despite a chilly rain, we had a very fun evening of American barbeque with a crowd all dressed in denim with red/white/blue shirts.

Blue jeans in Baguio.

So many days, so many events, and in three cities. We didn’t get to see all our friends throughout the Philippines but we saw many of them. And all agreed that friendship and independence are worth celebrating.

As Ambassador, I sometimes have wonderful experiences given to me because of my position. Over the past few weeks, I had the honor of participating in the opening sessions of the two major Philippine University-level athletic conferences – the NCAA and the UAAP. At both of the events, I was invited to sit with the Presidents of the participating Universities and I also got to do the ceremonial toss for the opening basketball games that followed the ceremonies.

The NCAA opening came first. And what a show. The host University (the schools rotate host duties each year), San Beda, put together an opening song and dance show that included participants from all the Universities. The fast paced show was dazzling. The teams all paraded out and then took the oath of sportsmanship. The NCAA gave me the honor of addressing the crowd so I got to ask the players to please applaud their dedicated fans and then the fans to stand and applaud the athletes who will spend the next months showing their athletic skills and good sportsmanship in the name of their Universities. I confess it was intimidating to address a packed coliseum. Even more so since I had a cold and was losing my voice!

Last Saturday was the UAAP opener. Host FEU (Far Eastern University) pulled out all the stops with a non-stop song and dance performance that emphasized the “many colors” of the participating Universities. The participating athletes took an oath of sportsmanship and the University Presidents all joined the host University on the floor in a show of unity to launch the season.

Through these two events, I got to speak with many of the University Presidents and to hear of their dedication to excellence in education. The University Presidents were a diverse group but very much united by their common goal to provide a quality and well rounded education for their students. I enjoyed watching the obvious friendship among them as they swapped ideas and concepts.

And I got to share the amazing school spirit as the thousands of fans chanted, waved banners and screamed for their teams and their schools. I so loved that feeling of excitement and energy. I felt really lucky to get to participate.