ON THE PHILIPPINES’ ASSISTANCE TO EMERGENCY EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE EFFORTS IN TURKEY AND OF THE FILIPINO-TURKISH TIES THAT BIND

SAN DIEGO, CA -- With hopes of finding other survivors in the rubble fading fast, the combined death toll in Turkey (and neighboring Syria) from the 7.8 magnitude quake surged above 37,000 and looked set to keep increasing.

In one city, rescuers dug a tunnel to reach a grandmother, mother and daughter from one family who appeared to have survived the February 6 temblor and 7.6 after shock.

A young girl named Miray was recovered live in the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman and crews were reportedly close to reaching her sister as well. State broadcaster TRT Haber said a 10-year-old girl was rescued in the province of Kahramanmaras.

At least two other children and three adults were also reported to have been saved.

But others were bracing for the inevitable scaling down of search operations as low temperatures reduced the already slim chances of survival and some Polish rescuers announced they would leave soon. Two of Taiwan’s three rescue teams have already left Turkey.

In the shattered Syrian city of Aleppo, the United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said the rescue stage was “coming to a close.”

“Now the humanitarian phase – the urgency of providing shelter, psycho-social care, food, schooling, and a sense of future for these people – that’s our obligation now,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the efforts of the 82man Philippine Search and Rescue Group sent to Turkey continues on with their deployment, with several survivors of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake given assistance, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) declared Sunday.

OCD Assistant Secretary Raffy Alejandro said the Philippine contingent has so far helped check nine buildings, found five possible alive victims, and gave medical assistance to 14 outpatients.

“They are in high spirits. Okay naman sila. Wala pong problema so far. Mayroon na silang assignment duon. Gumagawa na sila ng search, ‘yung ating team together with the local authorities duon. May naassign nap po duon sa area o site sa kanila,” he spoked in a Super Radyo DZBB interview. (They are in high spirits. They are okay and have encountered no problems so far. They already have an assignment there; Our team together with the local authorities there are doing a search. An area or site has already been assigned to them.)

The group includes personnel from the Department of Health, Armed Forces of the Philippines,

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and OCD.

They carried devices that could detect survivors of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, under the rubble as they worked with other international search and rescue teams.

As of Friday, 10 February 2023 two Filipinos were confirmed dead due to the earthquake according to the Philippine Embassy.

Filipino Community in Turkey vice president Weng Timoteo said the body of one of the Filipino fatalities will be repatriated to the Philippines, while the other one will remain in Turkey for now.

One Filipino is also in the intensive care unit (ICU) according to Timoteo.

“Actually, buhay ‘yung nasa ospital ngayon, nasa ICU. Medyo 50/50 ang kalagayan niya. Pero she’s getting better na po. Dalawa ang patay, at isa ang nasa ospital ngayon.” Timoteo noted in a separate interview on Super Radyo DXBB. (Actually, the one in the hospital is alive, but is in the ICU. Her condition is 50/50. But she’s getting better. Two are dead, and another one is in the hospital now.)

“Ang major challenge po natin, Number 1, is yung extreme weather.

Pangalawa po yung language barrier,” PEMAT leader Dr. Alfonso Danac explained at a press conference. (Our major challenge is number 1, the extreme weather. Second is the language barrier.)

According to him, many people in Turkey cannot speak in English. The Office of Civil Defense added that interpreters are present in the area of operations.

OCD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV stated that the PEMAT field hospital has served a total of 55 patients so far.

The Philippine urban search and rescue team conducted operations in 20 collapsed buildings, according to Alejandro.

The Philippine rescue team was on their fourth day of operations and is assessing if their two-week stay will need to be extended according to Alejandro.

Last Friday the Philippine Embassy in Turkey confirmed two Filipinos were killed in the earthquake. The embassy postulated that it is processing the repatriation of the victims’ remains.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, through the Speaker’s Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Initiative, will provide $100,000 or about 5.4 million pesos in financial aid to victims of the earthquake that damaged Turkey and Syria.

Speaker Ferdinand Marin G. Romualdez will turn over the fund to Turkish Ambassador to the Philippines Niyazi Evren Akyol.

Mr Romualdez noted that Turkey was one of the very first countries to send aid to Leyte and parts of Eastern Samar in the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan, known locally as typhoon Yolanda, in 2013, which killed over 6,300 people.

“The assistance extended by Turkey, the United States and our allies and friends abroad helped ease the pain and suffering of our people,” he commented in a statement on Sunday.

No doubt about it because of the ties that bind both countries, Turkey and the Philippines will always remain committed to doing whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to provide necessary assistance to each other when disasters and calamities strike either one.

So, what is it with the Filipino and Turkish ties and connections? How do we best describe the current state of Philippines-Turkey relations?

The Turkish people and Filipinos had relations even before the establishment of the modern nations of Turkey and the Philippines. During the Ottoman Empire era, people (“Lucoes”) (or “Luzones?”) from the island of Luzon in the Philippines were employed by the Turks. The nephew of the Ottoman Viceroy to Egypt, Admiral Heredim Mafamede recruited “Lucoes” (now Filipinos) in the war against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean since they appointed one “Lucoes” named Safetu Diraja as commander of the Muslim forces over in Aceh, Sumatra – their vassal state in Southeast Asia. The “Lucoes” were a partially “Islamized” people with dual allegiance to Portugal as one was also appointed as administrator in Portuguese-Malaca (named Regimo Diraja) as well as Turkey since some were employed in the Ottoman Caliphate’s armies in the Orient both fighting with and against Muslims. Pigafetta (a Venetian scholar and explorer who joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by Ferdinand Magellan) notes that one of them was in command of the Brunei fleet in 1521. However, the “Lucoes” shifted their allegiance to Spain (an enemy of the Ottomans) after their homeland (Luzon) was invaded by the Spaniards who had sailed from Latin America. The Spanish together with their Visayan and Latin American soldiers supported the non-Muslim faction in Luzon, Pagan-Hindu Tondo against Muslim-Manila to cement their hold in the archipelago against Muslim interests. Until their eventual war of independence against Spain, the colony of the Philippines was generally hostile to

Turkish interest.

Formal diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on June 13, 1949 on a non-residence basis with the signing of a Treaty of Friendship. Turkey established its resident embassy in Manila in 1990 with Erhan Yigitbasioglu as the first resident ambassador. The Philippines vested its resident embassy in Ankara in October 1991 with Bonifacio Pobre Arribas as the first resident ambassador. Turkey also established an honorary consulate in Cebu in 1992. There were 5,500 Filipinos in Turkey as of 2008, according to estimates by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the Philippine Embassy in Ankara. Out of those, most are recorded as maids and “overseas workers” employed in households of diplomatic communities and elite Turkish families. Moreover, ten percent or approximately 500 Filipinos in Turkey are skilled workers and professionals working as engineers, architects, doctors and teachers. Most of the Filipinos reside in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Antalya – and the nearby surrounding areas. Incidentally, Filipinos amid Russians and Africans are among the fastest growing minorities in Turkey today due to the country’s improving economic performance.

For years now, the Philippines and Turkey have been on track towards even closer friendship, bolstered by the various levels of engagement between both government and its peoples.

In fact, Philippine-Turkish relations have seen a significant growth in a wide range of areas in recent years, most notably in the fields of defense, trade and investment, development cooperation, and people-to-people linkages in tourism, culture and education. Turkey also continues to support the efforts of the Philippine government in the peace process in Mindanao.

An active Turkish cultural and business community has also emerged in the Philippines. In recent years, these Turkish nationals have been the prime movers of the two countries’ relations, as they have sought to involve a great number of Turkish stakeholders in Philippine society, particularly in the fields of education, religion, culture and the economy.

I say three initiatives are worth noting to understand this dynamic: Firstly, the most significant contribution of Turkish nationals in the Philippines is through education. Although these nationals are foreign to the Filipinos’ educational system, they have not been prevented from implementing their goal of multicultural schools

Jesse T. Reyes

Filipino Potpourri

in which Filipinos, Turks, and other nationalities interact with each other in an environment where tolerance, “love, concerns, and success meet.”

The first Turkish school back in our old homeland inaugurated in 1994 in Zamboanga City and was followed by the opening of sister schools in Santolan and Anapolis, San Juan City, in Metro Manila,.

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo acknowledged this effort by encouraging the establishment of more Turkish schools in the country to facilitate the “strengthening of mutual relations” and the bond that “makes people of other faiths accept one another.” In addition, former Governor of Zamboanga City Maria Clara Lobregat acknowledged the successful contribution of Tolerance (High) School by “changing the misconception formed in Filipino minds regarding the unfortunate clashes of Muslims and Christians in the country.”

FYI: Tolerance High School was founded in 1997 in Zamboanga with 87 students. Today, the school has boarding and teaching facilities for over 1,000 students. It practices a policy of equal treatment for Christian and Muslim parents and pupils and is considered “one of the best schools in the region,” producing top students in international competitions. It has also won an award for “practicing peace through education.” Another school located in the Manila area is the Fountain Elementary School, which offers basic educational programs designed to prepare students in the fields of science, math and English.

Another driver promoting ties between the Philippines and Turkey is the establishment of the Turkish Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (TCCP). In line with TCCP’s grand vision of promoting relations through nonpolitical diplomacy, the Chamber brings Turkish businessmen together with their Filipino counterparts to consult on business and investment opportunities that each country can offer the other. These visits have spearheaded “long-term business networks” especially in the areas of tourism, school and housing project construction, energy, furniture, business process outsourcing and food processing.

TCCP is part of the Confederation of Business and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON). It has become the sole and official representative of TUSKON in the Philippines and has organized several TurkeyWorld Bridge programs in Istanbul. The TUSKON chairman believes that the Philippines have a “lot to offer Turkish businessmen” given its huge population, strategic location and impressive economic growth, although he acknowledged the imbalance of trade between the two nations with Turkey exporting far more to the Philippines than vice versa.

The Turkish practice of diplomacy through economic collaborations has won the hearts and minds of many elites in the Philippines. With the Philippine government’s efforts to advance the nation’s economy through attracting foreign investment and diversifying markets for Philippine products, Turkey can take advantage of this opportunity.

With the creation of the Pacific Dialogue Foundation in the Philippines, a peaceful, constructive and productive environment between Turks and Filipinos has begun. The Foundation is tasked with promoting universal values such as tolerance and understanding and coordinating activities between the Philippines and Turkey. It is also active in organizing tours and visits to Turkey for Filipino businessmen, academics, researchers and local and national government officials. Indeed, the Pacific Dialogue Foundation has changed many Filipinos’ perceptions of Muslim countries. In fact, many politicians in the Philippines now want to emulate this kind of approach in promoting understanding. And this is especially true in the southern Philippines where poverty and ethno-driven conflicts dominate the daily life of many residents. The sociocultural and economic engagement between Turkey and the Philippines could prove to be the beginning of even stronger bilateral relations. For many Filipinos, the introduction of Turkish nationals into the country has helped to counter misconceptions and biases regarding Muslims – those in the Philippines and otherwise.

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