According to Dureza, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Peruvian President Alan Garcia held bilateral talks and shared commonalities, talking about the kinship between their two countries in straight Spanish.

Dureza noted that the Philippines and Peru are both predominantly Catholic and were ruled by Spain for hundreds of years.

Aside from the two countries’ common Spanish heritage, President Garcia has a soft heart for the Philippines, recalling that as a young boy, his mother would keep reminding him that he was the son of the “President of the Philippine Republic.”

Dureza later found out that his father was a namesake of the late Carlos P. Garcia, then president of the Philippines. (PIA/Bohol)