New US ambassador arrives in the Philippines

Manila - The new US ambassador to the Philippines has arrived in the country, one month before Filipinos were to hold crucial elections, airport officials said Sunday.

Ambassador Harry K Thomas Junior arrived late Saturday and was welcomed by embassy officials and staff at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In his arrival statement, Thomas said he was "delighted" to take up his post as new envoy of the United States to the Philippines.

"America and the Philippines are long-standing free partners, we have great plans, and we have much to do together," he said. "I look forward to working with the people of the Philippines."

Thomas said his father, who was in the Philippines after World War II, "always told (him) that he had a great time with the people of the Philippines."

"I hope that I can live up to the work that he and his colleagues did here," he added.

Thomas arrived one month before national and local elections on May 10, when more than 50 million Filipinos were to vote for a new president, vice president, legislators and local officials.

The US has warned of possible violence before and after the elections and has urged its citizens to exercise extreme caution when traveling to the Philippines.

Thomas is a former director general of the US Foreign Service. He was US ambassador to Bangladesh from 2003 to 2005, and held other posts in India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Peru.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318067,new-us-ambassador-arrives-in-the-philippines.html.