Most people experienced the first day of the conflict from their homes, watching the news unfold from a living room or a bedroom. Moira Gallaga experienced it from an embassy.
As the wife of Ambassador Gines Jaime Ricardo D. Gallaga, the Philippines’ envoy to Bahrain, she made her way to the Embassy alongside her husband within hours of the situation escalating on 28 February. What followed was not a wait-and-see. It was an operation. The Philippines has the fourth-largest expatriate community in Bahrain, around 56,000 people.
Mrs Gallaga penned down a reflection on 15 March, her birthday, exactly halfway through the conflict. It offers a window into what those first two weeks looked like from the diplomatic side, and into the kind of composure that a situation like this demands.
The Ambassador’s background is military. He served as an officer in the Scout Ranger Regiment of the Philippine Army before joining the diplomatic corps. Moira herself served three Philippine presidents. Neither of them, she says, is a stranger to crisis operations.
“He [the Ambassador] quickly set up a command centre for the Embassy’s crisis management team to monitor the situation,” she writes. “For my part, I ensured that all Embassy personnel and their families living in Juffair were safe and accounted for at the Embassy.”
What she describes is methodical rather than dramatic. Check on personnel, account for families, and set up the infrastructure to monitor and respond. The scale of the task was significant, but the approach was procedural. This is what happens when the people running the response have done it before.
The calm, she says, was deliberate.
For an embassy responsible for tens of thousands of nationals, that composure is not a personality trait. It is a working requirement.
“It was important to exude and to remain calm amidst the crisis, to enable people to focus on their tasks and to provide assistance to our community when needed.”
As the days went on, the Embassy’s role expanded from monitoring to direct support. Care packages were distributed to displaced community members and those most affected by the disruption. She calls it a contribution to the broader efforts already underway across the Kingdom.
She is direct in her praise of how Bahrain handled things on the ground. The authorities and the people of the Kingdom, she says, were well prepared, and that preparation helped create the sense of calm that everyone needed.
What stands out in her reflection is a specific observation about who was being looked after and how.
“I commend the authorities and the people of Bahrain for keeping everyone safe and secure, and providing shelter and support to those displaced regardless of nationality,” she writes. “This inclusiveness helps foster harmony. In times of crisis, it builds resilience, as we are all in this together.”
That last line, “we are all in this together,” runs through everything Moira has written. It is a description of what she watched happen across the island, from inside the Embassy and outside it.
“We are all in this together, and we will overcome this challenge together as well.”
Moira Gallaga celebrated her birthday on 15 March, two weeks into the conflict. She spent the occasion doing what she had been doing every day since it began: working, checking in on people, holding things steady.
This is the Gallagas’ first ambassadorial posting. They arrived in Bahrain to represent their country and serve their community. Within months, that role took on a dimension neither of them could have planned for. Mrs Gallaga does not frame it as a burden. She calls it an honour.
“In the days ahead, I pray that our hearts may continue to find compassion for others and for ourselves as we rebuild. May we all find peace in the days ahead, strength for what comes next, and for those affected, doors that open to kindness and purpose.”
Bahrain Unshaken is a series of conversations with people living and working on the island during the ongoing conflict in the region. A mixed bag of reflections, lessons, and messages of hope – the stories we share here highlight how life and circumstances changed for citizens and residents, business leaders, marketing professionals, creators, homemakers, and others. What connects them is that they are all still here, still showing up, and willing to talk honestly about what that looks like.
The aim is not to offer commentary or analysis; the series is trying to make space for real voices. To hear how people are coping, what trust and faith look like, what has changed in their daily lives, and what, if anything, has surprised them about themselves or the community around them during a period of uncertainty.
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