Fraternity at the heart of PH-France ties
Published Aug 8, 2026 08:59 am
French Ambassador Marie Fontanel welcomes guests to Bastille Day. (Photos: French Embassy Manila)
For outgoing French Ambassador Marie Fontanel, there was one word that best described her three years in the Philippines: “fraternité”.
It was fitting, then, that fraternity—the third of the French Republic’s ideals of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”—became the theme of Fontanel’s final Bastille Day reception as ambassador, held on July 14 at the Fairmont Makati.
The Virlanie Foundation choir opens the evening with a moving rendition of the national anthems of France and the Philippines.
“Fraternity is not just a word on the walls of our institutions,” Fontanel told guests. “It is the common house we build together every day.”
The idea carried particular meaning for an ambassador preparing to say goodbye. Fontanel spoke warmly of the welcome extended to her and her family—her husband Alan and their children Luis, Tuan, and Gabriel—and described their years in Manila as “an incredible journey of friendship.”
That friendship was also reflected in a bilateral relationship that saw significant developments during her posting.
Among the most consequential was the signing earlier this year of a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement between France and the Philippines, making France the first European country to enter into such an arrangement with Manila.
Cooperation also expanded in maritime security, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, transportation and environmental protection, alongside growing economic and development ties.
Ambassador Marie Fontanel onstage with DFA Undersecretary Leo
Herrera‑ Lim and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles John Brown, in a ceremonial toast. (Photo: Badette Cunanan/Manila Bulletin)
But diplomacy during Fontanel’s tenure was hardly confined to government meeting rooms.
French culture remained a familiar presence in the Philippines through initiatives such as the French Film Festival, Fête de la Musique and Goût de France, while scholarships, alumni programs and the Partnership for Youth in the Philippines created more opportunities for exchanges between Filipinos and the French.
Fontanel also used her farewell reception to turn attention away from France itself and toward the Filipino communities and organizations she had encountered during her posting.
Performances by the Virlanie Foundation choir and NGO Cameleon placed civil society at the center of the evening, reflecting the ambassador’s broader interpretation of fraternity as something practiced rather than simply proclaimed.
She paid tribute to organizations working with vulnerable communities, particularly women and children, as well as those involved in education, culture and social inclusion.
Local DJ sets keeping the energy alive during the after‑party, as guests seamlessly transition into an evening of socializing, drinks, and dancing.
For Fontanel, these relationships offered perhaps the clearest expression of what diplomacy ultimately seeks to accomplish.
“All those initiatives pursue the same objective—bringing people together and building a future based on trust and cooperation, a true definition of fraternity,” she said.
It was an unusually personal note on which to mark a national day, but an appropriate one for an ambassador at the end of her assignment.
Bilateral relations are often measured through agreements signed, trade figures and official visits. Fontanel’s farewell offered another measure: the relationships built in between.
And after three years in Manila, fraternité was the French word she chose to leave behind.