Red, white & blue, the stars are over you

Stars from above and below shone on the US Embassy’s celebration last Monday of the 229th year of American independence. It was a star-studded affair.

Spared by typhoon "Emong" by a mere 12 hours, the reception, held at the Charles Parsons Ballroom and the lawns of the American Embassy (recently declared a National Historical site by the National Historical Institute), had a starlit sky as a canopy. It didn’t rain on the American parade – which was complete with hotdogs, burgers, yellow corn and Coca-Cola.

Multi-tiered giant bouquets of red and white roses with blue flowers on the fringes were abloom in several corners of the ballroom and the portico. Cocktail tables draped in red, white and blue tablecloth stood under a tent in the lawn, where guests gathered at 7:45 p.m. for a magnificent fireworks show worthy of the world’s only remaining Superpower. From a barge on the bay sprung a shower of fireworks, culminating in a giant burst of red, white and blue against the dark sky.

And compared to past celebrations, this year’s reception had a galaxy of stars – from both sides of the political Milky Way, that is. For the first time since she took office in 2001, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo attended the Fourth of July celebration, although it was Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, not her, who delivered the Philippine government’s felicitations to its former colonizer.

President Arroyo led the toast (of Bollinger champagne) to President George Bush and the American people, while US Embassy Charge d’ Affaires Joseph Mussomeli later offered a toast for Mrs. Arroyo’s "health and happiness" and for the pursuit of happiness of the Filipino people.

Also seen in the jampacked ballroom were former President Fidel Ramos, opposition leader Sen. Ed Angara, Mary Grace Llamanzares (representing her mother Susan Roces) and leading lights of the business sector and diplomatic corps. I also saw Fr. James Reuter, S.J., the Jesuit from New York who has lived most of his life in the Philippines.

Asked why the President made time to attend this celebration despite the concerns weighing heavily on her shoulders, Romulo said: "The Charge d’ Affaires is representing no less than President George Bush. Mrs. Arroyo wanted to be personally present to give her best wishes to him."

But why this year only?

"Because it didn’t rain tonight, and it usually rains in July," was Presidential chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao’s curt reply to my pesky question.

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It will be the second time Mussomeli will be leaving the Philippines after a tour of duty at the US Embassy. The last time he left in 1986, there was a change in government and some naughty wags were wondering if history would repeat itself.

Anyway, in paying tribute to the Filipino people, Mussomeli recalled: "This story was told to me right after the ‘snap’ election of 1986, but before Marcos was actually overthrown. It is a story that strikes a chord with me even now, after 19 years. Sometime in mid-February 1986, I met with a close Filipino friend of mine for coffee, but when I sat down it was clear he was very upset. I asked him what was wrong, and he angrily explained that one of his own best friends had decided to leave the Philippines to visit the United States. My friend had asked him, ‘How can you leave your country now, when we are fighting against Marcos? We must all stay here and fight for freedom and against corruption.’ His friend replied, laughingly, ‘Oh, come on, you take this all too seriously. I’ll be back after things quiet down here. Right now, I just want to relax and go visit the ‘Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.’ Infuriated, my friend answered: ‘You may be going to visit the ‘Land of the Free,’ but you are leaving the ‘Home of the Brave’.’

"And that is the way I always think of the Filipino people – as the bravest of people."

And I thought to myself: "How nice of Mussomeli to be paying such great tribute to the Filipino people on what is supposed to be a day for singing hossanahs to the Americans." Then I suddenly realized: "Why not? Today is also Filipino-American Friendship Day."

And despite the "ups and downs" of Fil-Am ties, the pullout of US troops in 1992 and the pullout of Filipino peacekeepers in Iraq in 2004, the ties that bind the two democratic nations were well worth the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

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