Ambassador Loudette Zaragoza Banson: ‘A diplomacy of tenderness and compassion’

Maria Lourdes “Loudette” Zaragoza Banson, Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Philippines, is nothing short of extraordinary. Her brand of diplomacy is like no other.

For instance, Loudette began her speech during the National Day Celebration of the Order at the Manila Polo Club with the compelling story of a baby abandoned in an orphanage in Tondo who eventually became a banker with Credit Suisse. Read on and I dare say diplomacy will take on a new meaning to you.

“When I was in college in the late ‘70s, my mother (Pilar Zaragoza) was involved in the avocation of fostering babies while waiting for placement in their forever homes. In 1978, Mother Therese Vicente, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Face of Jesus, had asked for my mother’s help to foster some babies while these children’s papers were being prepared for adoption. We had a baby girl in our home at that time.

“But my mother was supporting another baby at the nursery of a small clinic in Tondo, Manila, where the child was abandoned by her birth mother. Sadly, each time my mother visited this infant to bring supplies to the clinic, she noticed that the child had developed serious skin eruptions all over her head and body. Her head was disfigured because she lay on her back for many hours with no one picking her up from her crib.

“My mom decided to take her home and asked me to take care of her. I was in my third year of college. All she said to me was, ‘Here, take care of this baby! Practice.’ I thought then, ‘Practice!!???’ What about my papers, homework, late nights, etc.? But mothers know best. I obeyed.

“Sara became my roomie and the entire family’s baby until she was one year and one month old when the papers were in order for her adoption by two school teachers in Switzerland. The representative from Switzerland came to fetch the baby. 

“Mom was worried that these virtual strangers did not know Sara’s routine so she made me go with Sara. I had to ask for my College dean’s permission to leave for two weeks. I took the almost 24-hour flight with a 13-month old baby not knowing what was waiting for me on the other side of the world. 

“Sara grew up to be a tall, olive-skinned young achiever, who eventually learned to speak three languages. She became a bright-eyed, intelligent distinctive beauty, who made a mark at Credit Suisse.

“That child who initially had body sores, bulging eyes and a disfigured head grew up to be a woman who contributed to society. She left her banking career at age 30, settled in Cambodia to take care of abandoned children. She works for the Swiss government as her main source of livelihood. 

“Here is one life of an abandoned baby changed for the better with the help of a few who dared to take her in, and the government of Switzerland.”

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Now, what has Sara got to do with diplomacy and the work of the Embassy of the Military Order of Malta?

Loudette, who completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at St. Paul College Manila, summa cum laude, said in her speech: “Although my late father (National Artist for Architecture Jose Maria Zaragoza) was himself an Ambassador, my parents did not train me in the science and art of diplomacy. But they did pass on to me the fire and passion for the care of humanity.” 

“They reared me to care for the abandoned, the orphaned, the homeless and to engage in the endless combat against illiteracy and in the promotion of family piety through family prayer…”

Loudette, who was appointed ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in December 2025, has long been involved in the Order’s humanitarian mission.

A mother of five, she noted, “The world, our very circles, have many conferences and cocktail receptions but maybe we have to gather more courage to translate our convictions into concrete solidarity.”

She exhorted those who gathered at the celebration, “Let us unite for a diplomacy that is unarmed and disarmed. A diplomacy of tenderness and compassion.”

Going to back to Sara, the abandoned baby her family cared for till she was adopted by Swiss school teachers, Loudette said, “Sara was not ‘practice.’ She was one of my greatest teachers. After her, my amazing husband and I fostered 21 more babies and adopted two girls of our own.”

“Tonight, I dare to speak plainly about the poor, whom the Order of Malta calls our ‘lords.’ In many places, poverty is treated as a ‘problem’ to manage, rather than as persons to encounter. Yet we must insist on a different perspective: the poor are not merely recipients: they are teachers of what humanity is when it is purified of selfishness.”

She offered a challenge: “Can our international systems be evaluated not only by growth metrics, but by how they treat those who have the least voice?” 

And that is why Sara, born in the Philippines, raised in Switzerland and now serving her fellowmen in Cambodia is diplomacy personified—she is a product of negotiations anchored in kindness. And the alliance of people, organizations and nations that was forged to make Sara conquer greater heights was cemented not by treaties or wars but by compassion and shared humanity.

(The Order of Malta is committed to upholding human dignity and standing in solidarity with all who suffer without distinction, helping anyone regardless of faith, origin, gender, or political beliefs.)