"Kenney was nominated to be the US Ambassador to the Philippines by no less than President George W. Bush whose concern for the welfare of the Filipinos are beyond the measure of words," Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu, his son Sultan Kudarat Rep. Suharto Teng Mangudadatu, Rep. Annie Rosa L. Susano of Quezon City, party-list Rep. Acmad M. Tomawis of the Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino (ALIF), Pateros, Metro Manila Mayor Rosendo T. Capco, and Councilor Cesar B. Brillantes of San Juan, Ilocos Sur, said.

They said Kenney was nominated for the important post because her education and experience in international diplomacy are best suited to the special relations between the two countries.

Susano said that since time immemorial, Filipinos always look up to the US as some sort of savior of democracy and freedom in this part of the world.

"The affinity between the Philippines and the US stems from our shared history," Susano said. "Liberty was the main spring for the rise of Philippine national identity. The form of democratic government that now exists in the Philippines was deliberately patterned on the American model."

Capco noted that it is very seldom that the President of the United States himself nominates the US envoy to the Philippines.

"President Bush probably knows that Kenney, a diplomat of the highest caliber, can do a lot to further improve the economic, political, and cultural relations between the two countries."

"Democracy, and its protection, promotion, and improvement, will continue to be a shared concern and firm attachment for both Filipinos and Americans in the years to come," Brillantes said.

Keeney, the first woman US ambassador to the Philippines, arrived in the Philippines last Friday. He was met at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by Foreign Affairs Deputy Chief of Protocol Angelito Adelio Cruz.