Diplomatic send-offs are usually forgettable, but the one in Manila this week carried more weight than the ceremony suggested. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. conferred the Order of Sikatuna, the Philippines’ highest diplomatic distinction, on France’s outgoing ambassador, capping a posting that has quietly pulled Paris and Manila closer.
The medal is a courtesy, but the timing is a message. France has been steadily expanding its footprint in the Indo-Pacific, and the Philippines, keen to widen its circle of partners beyond the familiar giants, has been an eager counterpart. Trade, maritime cooperation, climate finance and cultural exchange have all thickened the relationship in recent years.
For Manila, the logic is diversification. A country long caught between larger powers benefits from more friends, especially European ones with capital, technology and their own stake in a stable region. Honouring a departing envoy is a low-cost way of signalling that the door stays open, whoever walks through it next.
The ambassador leaves with a decoration and a warmer bilateral file than she inherited. The real audience, though, is her successor and the government in Paris: the Philippines is courting partners, and it intends to keep the French connection firmly in the frame.
