The Honorable Tourism Secretary Alberto Aldaba Lim, the members of the FICAC board of directors headed by the Honourable Arnold Foote; your Excellencies, the Ambassadors of the various missions to the Philippines; the Honorable Consuls General, Consuls, Vice Consuls and other consular officials, both career and honorary, and your spouses, other distinguished guests, friends, ladies and gentlemen:

On behalf of the Consular Corps of the Philippines, I wish to welcome all of you to the second World Federation of Consuls FICAC East Asia regional conference, which is now in session.

For the first time in 35 years of service and fellowship, our corps is pleased and honored to host this gathering of our consular counterparts from across the seas under the umbrella of the World Federation of Consuls (FICAC).

We had the pleasure of welcoming most of you last night during the barrio fiesta fellowship at the Dusit Thani hotel poolside, which we trust you enjoyed. We got the chance to know each other better, renew old friendships and discover new ones.

We hope that through this conference, we would be able to foster greater friendships and cooperation among us, as well as better understanding, stronger ties and lasting peace among all the nations and peoples that we represent -- in the true Filipino spirit of "Bayanihan".

We also hope that after the conference, you would take time to discover the beauty of manila, its historic grandeur and rich heritage as well as its numerous malls and shopping centers. Or even one of our top tourist spots in our festive, musical islands where you can enjoy sandy beaches, modern amenities and our famously hospitable people.

So that when you go home, you can tell everyone that the Philippines is indeed a peaceful and lovely place to visit any time of the year.

So without further ado, let me end now by giving you our best wishes for a pleasant, rewarding and memorable stay in Manila:

"mabuhay!"