Carlos P. Romulo and the CPR Foundation

Summary

Carlos P. Romulo was a Filipino soldier, journalist, diplomat, author and educator who devoted his life to global peace and security. A basic truth that General Romulo expressed throughout his life, again and again, is that peace can be achieved only when there is economic security. “Peace is impossible without freedom,” he said before the Philippine Chamber of Commerce in February 1948. “Freedom, in turn, is impossible without economic security.”

Established in 1996, the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation was inspired by the memory of the General and of his dream of living in a secure and peaceful world. It is an independent Philippine organization that helps define the roles the public and private sectors play in the pursuit of peace and prosperity. Committed to promoting peace and development in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region, the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation is a private nonprofit think-tank that brings together scholars and decision-makers from different parts of the world to discuss public policy and its impact on peace and development.

Its inaugural activity, a conference entitled “Deepening Asia-Pacific Cooperation”, brought together twenty representatives of government, academia and the private sector from eleven countries to discuss political/ security cooperation, economic cooperation, and private-sector participation in the Asia-Pacific region. Roberto R. Romulo, son of General Romulo and Chairman of the Foundation, co-chaired the conference with Han Sung Joo, director of the Ilmin Institute of International Relations, Korea University. General Romulo was a staunch advocate of international cooperation and the free market. As early as 1945 he foresaw that the Pacific, and not the Atlantic, would be the wave of the future. When socialism and central planning were the rage in 1955, he believed that the market, and not the state, would propel the region to record growth and development. A firm believer in interstate cooperation based on sovereign equality, Romulo devoted all his energies to this vision in his more than fifty years of public service under eight Philippine presidents.

In today's global environment, where governments are no longer the sole power-wielders, collaboration between the state and the private sector has become increasingly essential. As the private sector's clout continues to grow, so does its potential to contribute to world peace, freedom and human development. The Foundation provides neutral forums for bridging government, academe and the private sector, with the goal of harnessing this potential.