The Foreign Service Journal, June 2009

F O C U S O N F S R E F L E C T I O N S R EPRIEVE ON M ANILA B AY 38 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 9 he sun was blindingly bright that Saturday in the summer of 1978, its heat only partially offset by the light breeze across the bow of the Philippine Government Customs launch as we sped across Manila Bay. I was the State Department’s man on a U.S. delegation that had finished negotiating a trade agreement with the Philip- pines the day before. Now, with 24 hours to kill before catching a plane to our next destination, we were being treated by the host government to a tour of Corregidor — also known as “The Rock” — that infamous isle where, 36 years be- T HEY SAY A CAT HAS NINE LIVES . B UT HOW MANY REPRIEVES ARE WE HUMANS GRANTED BEFORE MORTALITY ’ S INEVITABLE TRIUMPH ? B Y J OHN J. S T . J OHN T Pietari Posti