Miguel de Benavides Library, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines.

The Miguel de Benavides Library is at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), located in Manila, Philippines. Its full name is The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines. Founded in 1611 by Miguel de Benavides, the Archbishop of Manila, UST has the oldest continuing university charter in Asia. The library began as the personal collection of Archbishop de Benavides, and now has sixteen sections, four branches, and a collection of about 500,000 items. The library is the oldest in the Philippines. In 1985, a separate modern building for the library was planned, and the UST Central Library Building opened in 1989. Its chief librarian is Ms. Estrella S. Majuelo. On its website, the library’s goals are stated:

VISION

The UST Miguel de Benavides library envisions itself to be the leading academic information resource center of the Philippines by delivering world class library and information services to meet the needs of the local international community through service excellence.

MISSION

The UST Miguel de Benavides library, inspired by its model, St. Thomas Aquinas, affirms and commits itself to:

provide its clients with timely access to a continuously expanding library collection;

promote interest in reading and research work among the community;

participate in global information exchange and community development;

pursue the professional advancement of its staff;

preserve the rich heritage of the university.

Currently active in a digitization project, the library also owns some old treasures. For example, a copy of the first edition from 1543 of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, which advanced the idea that planets orbit around the sun. Or an even older book, from 1492, a Spanish translation of the historian Flavius Josephus’s The Jewish War.

Thailand and Philippines

Formal relations between Thailand Philippines were established in 1949, although exchange between the two nations began centuries earlier. Siamese ceramics from the 13th to 16th centuries have been found in the Philippines. Thai students have studied in the Philippines since 1926. As the website of the Philippines Embassy in Bangkok observes,

Manila and Bangkok, the countries’ capitals, became sister-cities on 24 June 1997. In 1999, as the Philippines and Thailand celebrated 50 years of cordial, harmonious and dynamic friendship, the Philippines renamed Rada Street as Thailand Street in the bustling business district of Makati, while Thailand opted to have Soi Philippines (Philippine Street) at the corner where the Philippine Embassy is located along Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok’s business center…Relations between the Philippines and Thailand likewise extend helping each other in times of natural disasters. In December 2011, Thailand donated US$100,000 in cash for the victims of tropical storm “Sendong.”  In May 2010, Thailand turned over 520 metric tons (MT) or 10,400 bags of rice to the Philippine government for distribution to the victims of typhoon Ondoy.

As the Embassy website concludes:

The Kingdom of Thailand is the Republic of the Philippines’ oldest friend in ASEAN.

A further sign of this friendship is the Association of Filipinos in Thailand (AFT), which had its first general assembly last year. The event was attended by Her Excellency Mrs. Mary Jo A. Bernardo-Aragon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Thailand. The AFT was founded in 1999 and has about 150 members. Its charitable projects are explained on the AFT website:

[The AFT’s] new directions are not about rewriting its history, rather they seek to redefine that story of charity from being Philippines-oriented into being Filipino-oriented and extend that goodwill towards the Thai people who have generously aided the Philippines in so many ways and in so many times. In the end, what we do for the Thai people, we do for the Filipino people. The New Directions put into proper perspective SPT’s role in light of the reality that there are now many thousands of Filipinos staying or working in Thailand when there were just a few thousands several decades ago. Most of them are Filipinos landing teaching jobs in Bangkok or in provinces. Thousands more are expected to travel in Thailand with the formalization of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. This ever-rising Filipino exodus to Thailand, mainly by teachers and degree holders converting into teaching jobs, has the unneeded by-product of highlighting the differences in the cultures and priorities of the two peoples; in the past, the commonalities were highlighted, and the differences were largely ignored. AFT’s new directions comprise four integrated approaches: Building goodwill between the Thais and Filipinos, mainly teachers; assisting Filipinos in Thailand and in the Philippines, disseminating information to increase the awareness of the Thai people on the positive contributions of Filipinos in Thailand, and persevering in working out projects in cooperation with Thai, Filipino and foreign organizations. In short, the new AFT is convinced that the cause of Filipinos and Filipino teachers here can only be won by winning the hearts and minds of the Thai people rather than alienating them and by doing things in close cooperation rather than in isolation with allied and potentially allied Thai organizations.

The association originated in the 1950s as The Filipino Community of Thailand (FCT). In 1998 its name was changed to the AFT, and two years later it was officially registered by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Thailand as a non-profit association. Working to foster closer relations between the Thai and Filipino peoples, among its charitable good works was a donation in 2011 to victims of the 2010 floods in the northeastern Thailand, through the Filipino Community Organizing Committee (FCOC), composed of volunteers from different Filipino organizations in Thailand.

In 2013, the former Philippines Ambassador Jocelyn Batoon-Garcia informed The Big Chilli:

There are about 8,900 registered Filipino residents in Thailand…The Philippines’ exports to Thailand are mainly products like spare parts for cars and computers and electronic devices. We import motor vehicles already assembled among other products. We would of course like to increase our exports to Thailand. The Philippine government is trying hard to improve its economy and one of the ways to do this is to increase production and find markets for our goods. A number of major Thai companies have invested in the Philippines, including Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, Siam Cement Group and Bangkok Bank. Dusit Thani Manila (Makati) is one of the hotel group’s most lucrative overseas ventures. Philippine companies are also beginning to invest in Thailand, mostly in the food and beverage sector, with San Miguel beer establishing a brewery and Thai Liwayway Food Industries putting up a factory for snack foods. Philippine companies are beginning to look outward, in the same way Thai companies are. We are encouraging Thai companies to invest in the Philippines and increase their trade with us. With the opening of the ASEAN Economic Community [AEC], we would like Thai companies to make the Philippines a part of their supply chain.  

Tourism is another type of connection, as the former ambassador noted:

From January to May of [2013], the number of Thai tourists to the Philippines increased by 18% compared to the same period last year, from 17,519 to 20,657 people. There are a far greater number of Filipinos coming to Thailand. More than 200,000 of our nationals visited in 2012, and this has been the average for some time. Some come here just for the weekend, for shopping and for the food. Filipinos love to travel. Filipino tourists are all over the shopping malls and temples here, and I bump into them very often… Of course, Thailand has beautiful beaches, mountains and other natural attractions just as the Philippines does but ours are wonderful in their own unique way and we would love for more Thais to come and visit. We want them to know there are vacation alternatives much closer to home than Paris or Rome right here in Southeast Asia. We feel that with the advent of the AEC in 2015 it is very important to have a greater exchange of peoples in the region because this will lead to greater understanding.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and the Miguel de Benavides Library)