He envisioned a center which today we might best describe as a “safe space” where different cultures, religions, and affiliations, can come together in mutual respect; a place where a shared love of learning, and an attitude of sober reflection on our past, present, and future, informs the experience of going through the Museo del Galeón to learn about the centuries-long Galleon Trade between Manila and Acapulco, and its multifaceted impact on Filipinos and the many countries and cultures indelibly impacted by what has been called the First Globalization.

We believe the experience provided by the Museo del Galeón will be an eye-opening one, and memorable, too; and one that continues from the past to the present and the future through our collateral efforts to look at the past and work towards a future where our oceans are protected and nurtured by us all.

We must be seamless and timeless, in a sense similar to our ancestors: we must embrace our always having been and remaining, a maritime nation; we are a nation whose story is also part of the story of other nations, with whom we share the same contemporary challenge to learn from the past so as to understand the complexities of our present and arrive at a more peaceful, prosperous, and enlightened future.