Carlos P. Romulo

Carlos Peña Romulo, QSC CLH NA (14 January 1898 – 15 December 1985) was a Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US Army and the Philippine Army, university president, President of the UN General Assembly, was eventually named one of the Philippines' National Artists in Literature, and was the recipient of many other honors and honorary degrees. He was born in Camiling, Tarlac and he studied at the Camiling Central Elementary School during his basic education.

Carlos P. Romulo

QSC CLH NA
President of the United Nations General Assembly
In office
1949–1950
Preceded byHerbert Vere Evatt
Succeeded byNasrollah Entezam
Philippine Ambassador to the United States
In office
September 1955 – February 1962
PresidentRamon Magsaysay
Carlos P. Garcia
Succeeded byEmilio Abello
In office
January 1952 – May 1953
PresidentElpidio Quirino
Preceded byJoaquin M. Elizalde
Secretary/Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
1968–1984
PresidentFerdinand Marcos
Preceded byNarciso Ramos
Succeeded byManuel Collantes (Acting)
In office
1963–1964
PresidentDiosdado Macapagal
Preceded bySalvador P. Lopez
Succeeded byMauro Mendez
In office
May 1950 – 1951
PresidentElpidio Quirino
Preceded byFelino Neri
Succeeded byJoaquin Miguel Elizalde
Secretary of Education
In office
December 30, 1965 – December 16, 1967
PresidentFerdinand Marcos
Preceded byAlejandro Roces
Succeeded byOnofre Corpuz (Acting)
Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Philippine Islands
In office
August 10, 1944 – July 4, 1946
Preceded byJoaquin Miguel Elizalde
Succeeded byPost abolished
11th President of the University of the Philippines
In office
1962–1968
PresidentDiosdado Macapagal
Ferdinand Marcos
Preceded byVicente G. Sinco
Succeeded bySalvador P. Lopez
Personal details
Born
Carlos Peña Romulo

14 January 1898
Camiling, Tarlac, Captaincy General of the Philippines
Died15 December 1985(1985-12-15) (aged 87)
Manila, Philippines
Resting placeLibingan ng mga Bayani
Metro Manila, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Alma materUniversity of the Philippines Manila
Columbia University
ProfessionDiplomat, Parliamentarian
AwardsPurple Heart
Silver Star
Websitecarlospromulo.org
Military service
Allegiance Philippines
Branch/serviceArmed Forces of the Philippines (Reserve)
commissioned to United States Army
Rank Heneral ng Dibisyon (Major General)
Battles/warsWorld War II

Early career

Studying in the Philippines and the United States, Dr. Carlos Romulo became a professor of English at the University of the Philippines in 1923. Simultaneously, Romulo served as the secretary to the President of the Senate of the Philippines Manuel Quezon. During the 1930s, Romulo became the publisher and editor of The Philippines Herald, and one of his reporters was Yay Panlilio. At the start of WWII, Major Carlos Romulo served as an aide to General MacArthur, attaining the rank of general by the end of that war.[1][2]

Diplomatic career

Romulo served eight Philippine presidents, from Manuel L. Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos, as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines and as the country's representative to the United States and to the United Nations. He also served as the Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Commonwealth era. In addition, he served also as the Secretary of Education in President Diosdado P. Macapagal's and President Ferdinand E. Marcos's Cabinet through 1962 to 1968.[3][4]

Resident Commissioner

Romulo served as Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States Congress from 1944 to 1946. This was the title of the non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives for lands taken in the Spanish–American War, and as such, he is the only member of the US Congress to end his tenure via a legal secession from the Union.

United Nations

In his career in the United Nations, Romulo was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom, and decolonization. In 1948 in Paris, France, at the third UN General Assembly, he strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by Andrei Vishinsky, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: "You are just a little man from a little country." In return, Romulo replied, "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!", leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down.[5]

Palestine Partition Plan

In the days preceding the UN General Assembly vote on the Partition Plan for Palestine, Romulo stated "We hold that the issue is primarily moral. The issue is whether the United Nations should accept responsibility for the enforcement of a policy which is clearly repugnant to the valid nationalist aspirations of the people of Palestine. The Philippines Government holds that the United Nations ought not to accept such responsibility." Thus, he clearly intended to oppose the Partition Plan, or at most abstain in the vote. However, pressure on the Philippines government from Washington led to Romulo being recalled, replaced by a Philippines representative who voted in favor of the Partition Plan.

President of the UN General Assembly

He served as the President of the Fourth Session of United Nations General Assembly from 1949 to 1950—the first Asian to hold the position—and served as president of the United Nations Security Council four times, twice in 1957, 1980 and 1981.[6] He had served with General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, and became the first non-American to win the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942. The Pulitzer Prize website says Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippine Herald was awarded "For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia."

Campaign for Secretary-General
See also: United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1953

Romulo ran for the office of United Nations Secretary-General in the 1953 selection. He fell two votes short of the required 7-vote majority in the Security Council, finishing second to Lester B. Pearson of Canada. His ambitions were further dashed by negative votes from France and the Soviet Union, both of whom were permanent members with veto power.[7] The Security Council eventually settled on a dark horse candidate and selected Dag Hammarskjöld as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Ambassador to the United States

From January 1952 to May 1953, Romulo became only the second former member of Congress to become the Ambassador to the United States from a foreign country, following Joaquin M. Elizalde, who had been his immediate predecessor in both posts. He later served as Ambassador again from September 1955 to February 1962.[8]

Return to the Philippines

Philippine Presidential Aspiration

Instead, he returned to the Philippines and was a candidate for the nomination as the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, but lost at the party convention to the incumbent Elpidio Quirino, who ran unsuccessfully for re-election against Ramon Magsaysay. Quirino had agreed to a secret ballot at the convention, but after the convention opened, the president demanded an open roll-call voting, leaving the delegates no choice but supporting Quirino, the candidate of the party machine. Feeling betrayed, Romulo left the Liberal Party and became national campaign manager of Magsaysay, the candidate of the opposing Nacionalista Party who won the election.

Romulo, portrait by Soshana, oil on canvas, 1945
Ang Paglulunsad Memorial, Lingayen, Pangasinan. Carlos P. Romulo launched on January 10, 1945 Philippine and Pacific troops to liberate Luzon

Minister of Foreign Affairs

He was the Philippines' Secretary (Minister from 1973 to 1984) of Foreign Affairs under President Elpidio Quirino from 1950 to 1952, under President Diosdado Macapagal from 1963 to 1964 and under President Ferdinand Marcos from 1968 to 1984. In April 1955 he led the Philippines' delegation to the Asian-African Conference at Bandung.

Resignation from the Marcos Cabinet

Romulo supported President Ferdinand Marcos through most of his presidency. But he resigned in 1983, soon after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, citing poor health. Gregorio Brillantes interviewed him in 1984, and he said he resigned "heartsick" because of the assassination of Aquino, whom he considered a "friend", and the resulting freefall of the Philippines' economy and international reputation.[9]

According to Beth Day Romulo, the Marcos administration had asked him to sign an ad that the administration was planning to place in the New York Times and other major international dailies. Carlos P. Romulo refused to sign the ad and instead resigned.[10]

Death

He died, at 87, in Manila on 15 December 1985 and was buried in the Heroes' Cemetery (Libingan ng mga Bayani). He was honored as "one of the truly great statesmen of the 20th century."[11] In 1980, he was extolled by United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim as "Mr. United Nations" for his valuable services to the United Nations and his dedication to freedom and world peace.

Published books

Romulo, in all, wrote and published 22 books, which includes The United (novel), I Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, Mother America and I See the Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs).

Honors

National Honor

Awards and recognitions
Gen. Romulo (3d from R), as President of the United Nations General Assembly, talks with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Carlos P. Romulo statue UN Avenue.

Romulo is perhaps among the most decorated Filipinos in history, which includes 72 honorary degrees from different international institutions and universities and 144 awards and decorations from foreign countries:

Anecdotes from Beth Romulo through Reader's Digest (June 1989)

At the third UN General Assembly, held in Paris in 1948, the USSR's deputy foreign minister, Andrei Vishinsky, sneered at Romulo and challenged his credentials: "You are just a little man from a little country." "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world," cried Romulo, "to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!"

During his meeting with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito welcomed Gen. Romulo with drinks and cigars, to which the general kindly refused. Their conversation went as follows:

Tito: "Do you drink?"

Romulo: "No, I don't."

Tito: "Do you smoke?"

Romulo: "No, thank you."

Tito: "What do you do then?"

Romulo: "I etcetera."

At this, Marshal Tito was tickled by his reply and loudly exclaimed around the room, "I etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!"

Romulo was a dapper little man (barely five feet four inches in shoes). When they waded in at Leyte beach in October 1944, and the word went out that General MacArthur was waist deep, one of Romulo's journalist friends cabled, "If MacArthur was in water waist deep, Romulo must have drowned!"

In later years, Romulo told another story himself about a meeting with MacArthur and other tall American generals who disparaged his physical stature. "Gentlemen," he declared, "When you say something like that, you make me feel like a dime among nickels."

Books
Carlos P. Romulo at the Clark Air Base (1979)
  • I Saw the Fall of the Philippines.
  • Mother America
  • My Brother Americans
  • I See The Philippines Rise
  • I am a Filipino
  • The United
  • Crusade in Asia (The John Day Company, 1955; about the 1953 presidential election campaign of Ramon Magsaysay)
  • The Meaning of Bandung
  • The Magsaysay Story (with Marvin M. Gray, The John Day Company 1956, updated re-edition by Pocket Books, Special Student Edition, SP-18, December 1957; biography of Ramon Magsaysay, Pocket Books edition updated with an additional chapter on Magsaysay's death)
  • I Walked with Heroes (autobiography)
  • Last Man off Bataan (Romulo's experience during the Japanese Plane bombings.)
  • Romulo: A Third World Soldier at the UN
  • Daughters for Sale and Other Plays

See also

References
  • Zaide, Gregorio F. (1984). Philippine History and Government. National Bookstore Printing Press.
  • Romulo, Beth (June 1989). "Unforgettable Carlos P. Romulo". Reader's Digest.

Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States Congress

  1. Kaminski, Theresa (2016). Angels of the Underground. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN 9780199928248.
  2. Panlilio, Yay (1950). The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. pp. 12–13, 128, 292, 297. ISBN 9780813546827.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-19. Retrieved 2011-10-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2011-10-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Metin, Aris. "What is the Filipino Leader?". EDIzine: EDI-Staffbuilder's Official Online Newsletter. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  6. Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Retrieved 7 September 2013
  7. Hamilton, Thomas J. (13 March 1953). "Soviet Veto Blocks Pearson U.N. Boom; Romulo Also Fails". The New York Times.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2017-02-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Brillantes, Gregorio. The Twilight of the General. National Midweek Vol. 1 No. 9. January 1, 1986.
  10. Romulo, Beth Day (2017-11-01). The Writer, the Lover and the Diplomat: Life with Carlos P. Romulo. Anvil Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9789712731433.
  11. Pace, Eric (December 16, 1985). "CARLOS P. ROMULO OF PHILIPPINES DIES". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  12. "Nomination Archive". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Joaquin M. Elizalde		 Resident Commissioner from the Philippines to the United States Congress
1944–1946		 Succeeded by
post abolished
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Herbert Vere Evatt		 President of the United Nations General Assembly
1949–1950		 Succeeded by
Nasrollah Entezam
Academic offices
Preceded by
Vicente G. Sinco		 President of the University of the Philippines
1962–1968		 Succeeded by
Salvador P. Lopez
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