Jan.-Feb. 2001

Questions or comments? Email Editor Tony P. Fernandez at:
afernan@techie.com

The Remarkable Ambassador Castro

By Tony P. Fernandez

Ambassador Pacifico A. Castro

MONTREAL - Ambassador Pacifico A. Castro, the only Filipino diplomat to address the Canadian Parliament in fluent French, died suddenly March 18, 2001, of cardiac arrest in Manila.  He was 68. 

   Castro and I became friends when he was the Ambassador to Canada in 1993. Those who knew him, like myself, are saddened by his passing because we remember him as one of the nicest Ambassadors we ever had.  

   There is no need to list here his many accomplishments during his long and brilliant career as an outstanding diplomat. Rather, I’d like to reminisce those days when he was the Ambassador to Canada.

   His friends here in Montreal remember him as a friendly and good-natured Ambassador, always cordial, warm, and gracious. But he was also a brilliant diplomat able to vary his behavior in response to varying situations. That’s what I admired him for. He would be with us just like an ordinary guy, but serious and sharp whenever he attended official functions with government officials and foreign dignitaries.

  Castro just loved Montreal. He said he loved the intellectual and cultural ambience of our city. So whenever he had the chance, he visited Montreal and went out with us to see its lights and joys, even going to Filipino restaurants with ‘Karaokes’ to sing, just like everybody else. He would also attend parties in the apartment of Filipino families, which he enjoyed immensely because he said he could relax. One could see that Ambassador Castro was a mixer not only with us, but with people in high positions.

   One of his closest colleagues and a good friend of his at the Department of Foreign Affairs was the then Minister-Counsellor (now Ambassador) of the Philippine embassy in Ottawa, Mr. Tony Villamayor, who later on was appointed by President Estrada as Chief Protocol Officer in Malacañang Palace. The two, (Castro and Tony) were inseparable on many social functions and private parties.

   Castro enjoyed these parties immensely and delighted giving cocktail parties in his residence for Canadian officials and visiting Filipino delegations to which we were sometimes invited as members of the local press. Soon we were all used to it and it remained until he retired and left for the Philippines. I always remember Castro saying frequently apropos the dinner parties that he always liked to have the local press around because he valued its work for providing news to the Filipino communities and was very pleased to have the company of newspaper people.

   Castro was always charming, charming as a guest and charming as a host. I remember one party, this time at his home, one of the guests was the then Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, Andres Narvasa who would later on play a role as the defense lawyer of President Estrada during his impeachment trial. I remember seeing Castro moving from group to group, taking a guest, sometimes prominent visitors or public figures, to introduce us- the local press, which we undoubtedly welcomed.

  And when he went off on trips across Canada the constant theme of Ambassador Castro was about the economic turn-around of the Philippines giving speeches in English, French, Spanish, Filipino and Ilocano- his native tongue. Equally he talked about Canadian and Philippine relations

  As a matter of fact, Castro was among those who supported a project of a good friend of his, Mann Nacario, a businessman and president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce of Toronto, who was pushing to publish the first Filipino-written book about Philippine-Canadian Relations. Ambassador Castro enormously liked the project and helped Mann as far as possible. The book was finally published in Toronto in 1995.  As far as we know, it’s the only book published in Canada outlining Canadian-Philippine relations that began 100 years ago when a Canadian firm established a branch in Manila in 1895.

   It may seem very strange to everyone nowadays but Ambassador Castro once asked me to help him put out a Spanish version of the embassy’s news bulletin, saying the Philippines is after all a Hispanic country which has cultural links with the Spanish-speaking countries. And more important he said he had many Spanish-speaking friends in the Diplomatic Corps in Ottawa. I suppose I couldn’t say no.  So I helped the embassy print the news bulletin in Spanish.

  Many of his friends here in Montreal say that Castro was a swell of an Ambassador and staggered by his intellect and charm.

   Grant him eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual life shine upon him. May he rest in peace, amen.