GMA may raise Takano issue in Tokyo

President Arroyo may raise in her talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the controversial statement of Ambassador Kojiro Takano before the foreign press last week.

In a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in Makati City last May 29, Takano confessed that he had been having "sleepless nights" since arriving in the Philippines because of "constant danger" from the "daily threat" of crime.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday that taking up the diplomatic faux pas was a "remote possibility," but it will not be the main agenda of the talks.

"I think the (Takano case) is not the main topic but perhaps, it could not be avoided to talk about it somehow," he said.

"From our view, the timing was bad and secondly, there are other ways where he (Takano) could have said what he said. So we believe he erred in his course of action," he said.

However, Bunye said Takano’s case should not "rupture" the warm and friendly relations between the Philippines and Japan.

"But the posture in the Philippines is that this is just a minor incident that should not destroy the good relations of our two countries because Japan has been very helpful to us and we should not let this incident rupture that relationship," he said.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Franklin Ebdalin said Takano could be recalled if the Japanese foreign ministry decides that he would no longer be effective as ambassador to Manila.

"Tokyo can recall him (Takano)," he said. "After making that statement, there is now a question if he will remain effective in that job. He has to suffer all consequences."

The Japanese foreign ministry has not yet responded to the diplomatic note from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), he added.

Bunye said Takano was not being singled out for his opinion on the country’s peace and order situation. He noted that US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone made a similar criticism on the judiciary earlier before the same venue, the FOCAP.

But he said "the circumstances were different between the case of Ambassador Ricciardone and Ambassador Takano."

Interviewed yesterday in the "Mr. Exposé" program of former ambassador Ernesto Maceda over radio station dwIZ, Bunye said Ricciardone spoke "very positively" about the Philippines in his speech at the FOCAP and that "he was trapped" into criticizing the judiciary.

"And his (Ricciardone) answer was ‘yes’ that corruption is going on and this was picked up by the media," he said.

However, Bunye said Takano was not taken out of context nor misquoted by the media as shown by the transcripts of his speech and the subsequent open forum.

"From start to finish, from the main speech up to the open forum, he (Takano) was really very negative in his remarks," he said.