January 12, 1984
The President has conferred the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Carlos P. Romulo, Foreign Minister of the Philippines. General Romulo has announced that he will be retiring from public life on January 14, his 85th birthday. The award was given in recognition of Foreign Minister Romulo's long and distinguished career, which has spanned the better part of this century.
In addition to his long tenure as Philippine Foreign Minister, Carlos Romulo served as an aide-de-camp to General MacArthur during the Second World War. He was the Philippine delegate to the U.S. Congress during the Commonwealth period and later Philippine Ambassador to the United States, and he was a signatory of the United Nations Charter. Throughout his career, Foreign Minister Romulo has been a steadfast friend of the United States, and he devoted unstinting efforts to fostering good relations between our countries.
The medal was presented in Manila today by Ambassador Michael Armacost.
The text of the award reads as follows:
"As parliamentarian, soldier, educator, U.N. Charter signatory, diplomat, and foreign minister, Carlos P. Romulo's statesmanship and promotion of international accord add up to a remarkable record of achievement. His more than fifty years of public service embody the warm relationship between the United States and the Philippines from the colonial period through the Commonwealth, wartime, and independence to the present. In tribute to his long and close association with the United States, this medal is gratefully conferred.''