EDITORIAL - Cream of the crop

The new secretary of foreign affairs, Albert del Rosario, says he wants fewer political appointees in the country’s diplomatic corps. This will be up to the appointing power, but if President Aquino wants to promote a merit-based society, he should fulfill Del Rosario’s wish.

As in most other countries, one has to be among the nation’s best and brightest to pass the grueling entrance exam in the Philippine foreign service. As representatives of their countries, diplomats must be among the cream of the crop. And as in any other career, those who choose the foreign service aspire to rise to the top, becoming an ambassador or, if fate allows it, the secretary of foreign affairs.

The law gives the president the authority to fill a certain number of diplomatic postings with political appointees. The country can benefit from the talent and expertise of certain individuals who are not career diplomats. Del Rosario, who flew to Libya to personally supervise the evacuation of Filipino workers in bus convoys to Tunisia, was himself a political appointee of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, serving as the country’s ambassador to Washington for five years. The prime posting almost always goes to a political appointee.

But a number of past political appointments to diplomatic posts were not based on merit and caused resentment among career officials in the foreign service. The diplomatic service has been used as just another political reward for loyalty or to reinforce political alliances. During the Arroyo administration, a succession of military chiefs of staff, after having reached the pinnacle of their profession, received appointments as ambassadors as an added reward.

President Aquino, who has vowed reforms in governance, should stop the practice of using diplomatic appointments as just another form of political patronage. He can still pick qualified individuals who are not career foreign service officials for certain diplomatic postings. But he should start limiting the number of political appointees in the diplomatic corps. The cream of the foreign service must be allowed to rise to the top.