GMA visits Filipinos in Japan

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gives a speech in front of an enthusiastic Filipino crowd at the Takenawa Prince Hotel in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

Despite the wintry cold, Filipinos around Japan gathered in Tokyo to hear President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deliver a speech at the Takenawa Prince Hotel in Shinagawa.

The President was in Japan to attend the two-day Japan-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Commemorative Summit. The Tokyo visit was the first leg of the trip that included Hong Kong and Bahrain.

Sadly, Foreign Minister Blas Ople took ill during the trip and later passed away in a Taiwan hospital. He was given a state funeral and was laid to rest in Manila’s Fort Bonifacio.