by Christian Rei P. Bautista and Kate Ashley H. Espeleta

22 February 2021 – The Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS) held its first General Assembly for the year 2021, along with its Spring Festival celebration, on 13 February 2021 via Zoom. PACS invited Ambassador Chito Sta. Romano and honorary fellows as speakers to commemorate the event, with Mr. Erwin Dizon, Board Director and Head of the PACS Events Committee, hosting the assembly.

A solemn opening prayer commenced the start of the general assembly and was followed by opening remarks from PACS president, Dr. Rommel Banlaoi. He enthusiastically greeted the members and guests with a happy Chinese New Year and expressed his high hopes for a continuously growing community for the organization.

After the warm greeting, Mr. Dizon then proceeded to present the accomplishment report of PACS for 2020 by first honoring the late, esteemed members of the organization, Dr. Aileen S.P. Baviera, Prof. Aurora Roxas-Lim, as well as Atty. Florencio Mallare.

Despite the complications brought by the pandemic, the accomplishments of PACS ranged from hosting substantial webinars, international and domestic conferences, forums, and published viewpoints in the PACS website, to the successful publication of its Chinese Studies Journal, proving their commitment towards the promotion of a deeper understanding of Philippine-China relations. The members were also able to look at PACS’s planned activities and events for 2021 – 2022.

For his part, Mr Charles de Guzman, Board Director and Treasurer of PACS, gave a concise financial report. Following this, Dr. Banlaoi gave his words of gratitude to the donors and contributors that supported the programs PACS has organized.   Sharlene Cua, Board Director and the Head of the Membership Committee, discussed PACS’ organizational membership and the members’ responsibilities.

Dr. Banlaoi spearheaded the launching of the Chinese Studies Journal Vol. 14, entitled “Philippines-China Relations at 45 During the COVID-19 Pandemic: New Discoveries, Recent Developments, and Continuing Concerns”. The journal compiled the works of both established and rising scholars in the field, with the aim of contributing to the progress of Philippine-China relations.

Co-Founder and PACS founding President, Dr. Theresa C. Cariño, shared brief remarks on the organization’s history. She talked about the growing network of scholars, people, and organizations that collaborated to form a community that widened to include those in the government, business, and many more professions. Dr. Cariño also highlighted her high hopes of building regional chapters outside Metro Manila and encouraged everyone to do further research. She emphasized the need to understand the dynamics happening in China, just as much as China needs to understand the development of the Philippines. Besides this, she also mentioned the organization’s plan to organize an international conference that will tackle diverse issues regarding the South China Sea to formulate multilayered solutions for complex issues.

The next speaker, Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta, an Honorary Fellow of PACS and Former Ambassador to ASEAN, gave an appreciation message to the organization for its successful cultivation of a deeper understanding of Philippines-China relations among Filipinos. According to him, “in serving our national interest, we should not be limited to only two choices: either to return to our reliance on the US in defending our sovereignty or to submit to whatever is  exacted by China.” Dr. Villacorta insisted on avoiding a situation that puts us in a zero-sum game with allies and partners, and these issues will be among subject matters PACS will tackle this year. 

Prof. Jaime FlorCruz of Peking University and former foreign Beijing Bureau Chief for CNN talked about his personal experience amidst the pandemic and reminded the guests that what matters most at the end of the day are our family and friends. He contemplated looking at the current situation using the Daoist philosophy, which seeks to flip the circumstance into a good thing. According to Prof. FlorCruz, this year can be an excellent time to do scholarly work about society to find harmony.

For the General Assembly’s last segment, PACS organized space for a conversation between the guests and Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana, former PACS president and member of PACS’ Board of Advisors.

Ambassador Sta. Romana greeted PACS and then gladly discussed about the improving Philippines-China relations; however, he also admitted that there were still unresolved disputes surrounding it. In his words, “we try to resolve our differences, what we cannot resolve we try to manage, we try to avoid it becoming a crisis, and then while doing that we try to fast forward on areas where we can have cooperation. It doesn’t mean that when we have disputes, we cannot talk to each other, it doesn’t mean that we have cooperation, we do not have differences.” Moreover, Ambassador Sta. Romana said that the cooperation through vaccine and medical supplies had played a leading role in diplomacy for the two countries.

During the lively open forum where many questions were posed, Ambassador Sta. Romana posited that diplomacy, which is the first resort to peaceful dialogue, and deterrence, are the essential tools in facing these current disputes. In addition to this, he suggested that we should not only look upon China’s development, but the Philippines should also observe the US and its current political climate under President Biden’s administration. Ambassador Sta.  Romana reminded the guests that “when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

In his concluding remarks, Fr. Aristotle C. Dy, SJ, Vice President of PACS, mentioned that the community of China watchers isn’t very big in the Philippines, and thus encouraged PACS guests to engage more and possibly join PACS. “We really need to come together so that we can share resources, share viewpoints, and strengthen that Philippine perspective, especially in Philippines-China relations, and not to forget also our traditional focus on the study of the Chinese in the Philippines.”

More than 150 participants, both regular members, and guests, attentively participated until the end of the general assembly.

**See the PACS Accomplishment Report here (click here)