I heard that the new Philippine ambassador to China is Jaime “Jimi” FlorCruz.
I met Jimi in the summer of 1983 when I first visited Beijing in the course of training in Wu-Shu, the contemporary martial art, in Chengdu, Szechuan Province. He did not know me and I did not know him either, but we kind of hit it off instantly. He took me and my friend Kurt Kraus to the Beijing Hotel for a dinner of Peking Duck. He also loaned me money when I ran out of cash while I was in Beijing. I was introduced to him either by Eric Baculinao, a fraternity brother in the University of the Philppines, or Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana. The three of them were journalists. Later all of them became bureau chiefs of different US media syndicates in Beijing.
Flashback to 1972: Chito, Jimi and Eric were part of a delegation of Filipino students on a friendship tour of China. With the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand E. Marcos, they were marooned in China. They could not go home because they’ll no doubt be put in jail. The three of them joined and worked in communes in the countryside. They also studied the history and language.
Chito Sta. Romana was appointed ambassador to China a few years ago. He passed away last year. Eric is now teaching in the University of Beijing.
One of my childhood friends, Josue “Sonny” Villa, a childhood friend from the old hometown, was ambassador to China some 20 years ago until his retirement.
There are many pieces about Jimi online. For a sketch of Jimi’s China journey, here is a link:
Stranded in Chairman Mao’s China – Sixth Tone
