Brazil-Philippines relations

Brazil and the Philippines (Portuguese: *Relações entre Brasil e Filipinas*; Filipino: *Ugnayang Brasil at Pilipinas*) start its bilateral relations through diplomacy, mutual trade and investment. The two countries have worked for peace, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, economic and social development, the right to self-determination of peoples, decolonization, equality and the condemnation of racial discrimination and terrorism. Brazil has an embassy in Manila and the Philippines maintain an embassy in Brasilia. Both nations were conquered by the Iberian powers, mainly by Spain and Portugal, in the 16th century.

## Bilateral relations

In 2011, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario signed three agreements with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota to undertake the cooperation on both countries on socio-economic development, effective implementation of agrarian reform, and combating drug trafficking. Brazil and the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding that will improve sports cooperation between the two countries. The memorandum will provide the Philippines and Brazil for sports cooperation through the exchange of expertise in areas such as institutional cooperation and training of sports specialists and practitioners. Brazilian Ambassador Jorge Fernandes is looking to expand the political, economic, cultural and educational ties between Brazil and the Philippines. Filipinos don't visit Brazil as much as Brazilians visit the Philippines. He also wants to pursue another agreement with Philippine Airlines to establish a direct flight from Manila to Brazil.

## Brazilians in the Philippines

Since 2004, there has been a wave of Brazilian models coming to the Philippines for work. Many of these models are of Japanese heritage. They look somewhat like Filipinos but with more "chiseled features", which has been an advantage to them in finding jobs in the Philippines. Brazilians are attracted to the modelling industry in the Philippines because, unlike other countries in the region such as China and Thailand, English is widely spoken. Photographers feel that Brazilian models are less inhibited than their Filipino counterparts and reject accusations that race or ethnicity has anything to do with their hiring decisions. However, in many cases the models speak only Portuguese and have limited educational background.

Brazilian models have been criticized by their domestic competitors for working at low fees, as little as P1,500 for a gig in comparison to typical local rates of P5,000 to P10,000 per show. The Professional Models Association of the Philippines has particularly been critical of the influx of Brazilian models. However, Brazilian actors themselves respond that there are many overseas Filipino workers in different countries around the globe including Brazil, and they have no desire to displace local talent. Models have to get permits from the Bureau of Immigration, and renew them every two months. In a few cases, BI officers have raided fashion shows and arrested models who were working illegally. However the PMAP claims that when they reported illegal models to the BI, the BI responded that they had bigger issues to deal with, and declined to follow up on the reports. Actor Lemuel Palayo made public complaints about Brazilian models, but then later retracted them and apologized. In November 2010, Phoemela Baranda also made public statements that the Philippines needed better laws to protect models against competition from Brazilians, and suggested imposing taxes on the employment of foreign models. However, other Filipino actors such as Wendell Ramos, Paolo Contis, JC Tiuseco, Aljur Abrenica, and Mark Herras have stated that they are not concerned by the increased competition.

## High-level visits

**High-level visits from Brazil to the Philippines**

* President Fernando Collor de Mello (March 1991)
* President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (November 2000)
* President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (July 2006)
* President Dilma Rousseff (August 2013)
* President Michel Temer (December 2016)
* President Jair Bolsonaro (October 2019)

**High-level visits from the Philippines to Brazil**

* President Fidel Ramos (July 1996)
* President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2009)
* President Rodrigo Duterte (February 2018)