Ambassadorial appointments

The President has the sole prerogative to appoint ambassadors - and the law stipulates that career ambassadors should be 51 percent versus political appointees. Personally I have no objections to political appointees, having been a political ambassador myself. There are many political appointees who have performed in an outstanding fashion. For example, there are former ambassadors such as: former vice president Emmanuel Pelaez, Ernesto Lagdameo, Ramon V. del Rosario and also my father Carlos P. Romulo.

In most cases, the Commission on Appointments has been able to separate the patently ineligible. One such example is the nomination of an ambassador to China. He was grilled intensively on substantive issues, indicating his lack of knowledge and experience. He was so embarrassed that he withdrew his nomination voluntarily. On the humorous side, another individual was nominated to be ambassador to a South Asian country. He was asked why he was being nominated to that country.  He answered because the Speaker told him to go there. After enduring a certain amount of guffaws, his former colleagues in Congress approved his nomination.

I have strong reservations about political ambassadors who extend themselves beyond the term of the appointing president.  The career service sarcastically refer to them as “career political ambassadors.”  The recent column of former Ambassador Jaime Yambao, in another newspaper, is worth quoting: “Witness the phenomenal case of one businessman who has secured an ambassadorship under four successive, different administrations. The appointment of a political ambassador is co-terminus with the appointing power. But this particular political appointee, instead of preparing his resignation letter at the end of an administration, launches a campaign of his own to get an ambassadorial appointment from whoever succeeds to the presidency.”…..“Usually, political ambassadors plucked from eminent business circles declare themselves “done” after a stint that has meant an enormous financial sacrifice for them. But this is probably not the case with this particular political appointee, for instead, his family business seems to thrive while he is in the foreign service. And how does he manage to get appointed by whoever emerges the winner in an apparently tight election contest? Does he have extrasensory perception (ESP)?” This gentleman is the exception to acceptable practice.  On the other side of the coin: former ambassadors to Spain, Isabel Wilson, Joseph D. Bernardo, John Rocha and Carlos Salinas, recently ambassador to US Jose Cuisia Jr., and Manolo Lopez, ambassador to Japan resigned coterminous with their president’s term.

As recounted in the Yambao column, Ambassador Evan Garcia presented his credentials to the Queen on Oct. 12. The Commission on Appointments confirmed Antonio Lagdameo to the same post about a week later. DFA has created a problem by appointing a new ambassador when the incumbent ambassador has barely served a month in the position.

A former British ambassador emailed me: “What on earth is going on? It seems the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” The British may have the impression that ambassadors are appointed frivolously. It is an embarrassment to Garcia and the Philippines. In this context, I am constrained to state that the handling and timing of this situation is deeply troubling and have caused considerable demoralization with the career corps who expect their leader, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, to champion their cause and uphold the integrity and credibility of the service. ??They had expected the Secretary to explain the circumstances of Evan Garcia to the President.

I pose no objection to the appointment of Ambassador Lagdameo, who performed credibly as ambassador to the UK during the Arroyo administration. He did not create this problematic situation.

With reference to Ambassador Evan Garcia, I have been witness to how he excelled in every task assigned to him. His more recent positions include many years as deputy chief of Mission in Washington D.C., ambassador to the UN in Geneva and his last position before posting was undersecretary of Policy in charge of all geographic desks. He deserves better treatment and should immediately be cross-posted to avoid further embarrassment. 

Lastly, I share the sentiments of the career service and express the hope the Secretary should strengthen and protect the career foreign service corps. The reported demoralization among the career merits his preferential and urgent attention.