Romulo defends appointment of 11 ambassadors nearing retirement

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo defended yesterday the appointment of 11 retirement-age ambassadors whose appointments were confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) on Thursday.

In a press briefing, Romulo defended his decision to nominate the ambassadors led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Sonia Brady, who was confirmed as envoy to China.

Disgruntled foreign service officers have expressed concern over the appointment of the ambassadors who might be allowed to stay in their posts beyond retirement age.

"I would like to say that the ambassadors who were confirmed represent the highest and (most) outstanding qualities of people in the foreign service. They are career officers who have waited to reach the apex of their career and that is heading the ambassadorial posts," Romulo said.

The Foreign Affairs chief hosted a luncheon yesterday in honor of Jaime Yambao, new ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with concurrent jurisdiction over the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and the Republic of Tajikistan; Victoriano Lecaros, ambassador to Malaysia; Jose del Rosario Jr., ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with concurrent jurisdiction over the Palestine Republic; Jose Zaide, ambassador to the French Republic with jurisdiction over the Principality of Monaco and the Portuguese Republic; Susan Castrence, ambassador to the Republic of Korea; Norberto Basilio ambassador to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh with concurrent jurisdiction over the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives; Bahnarim Guinomla, ambassador to the Republic of Turkey with concurrent jurisdiction over Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan; Estrella Berenguel, ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Ramoncito Mariño, ambassador to the Republic of Palau with concurrent jurisdiction over the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands; Al Francis Bichara, ambassador to the Lebanese Republic with concurrent jurisdiction over the Syrian Arab Republic; and Brady to the People’s Republic of China with concurrent jurisdiction over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Mongolia.

Lecaros, former DFA spokesman, said he did not feel alluded to as one of the "retirables." He will be leaving for his new diplomatic assignment in two weeks.

"I stand by the nomination of these outstanding ambassador nominees and I’m happy that the CA agreed with us that they’re outstanding and should be posted where they have been posted so here we have complete agreement between the CA and ourselves," Romulo said. — Pia Lee-Brago