Unifors Letter-complaint To Pgma

01 October 2009

Her Excellency GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO President of the Republic of the Philippines Excellency: I write to you on a matter of grave importance and utmost urgency for your foreign service corps---the appointment of Mr. ESTEBAN CONEJOS, JR. as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. I have been requested to bring to your attention the collective plaint of the foreign service corps: 1. This appointment of Mr. Conejos not only brings the level of noncareer ambassadors to its highest level in Philippine history, it places your Excellency in imminent breach of the statutory limit set by Section 17 of Republic Act No. 7157, otherwise known as the Foreign Service Act of 1991. As of 28 September 2009, there are 29 non-career ambassadors and 36 career ambassadors. Of the latter group, about eight (8) have ended their tour of duty (and are on short-term extensions) or about to end their tour of duty within sixty (60) days. Thus, if all these 8 career ambassadors return home, your Excellency will have breached the statutory limits even without the appointment of Mr. Conejos. 2. This instant appointment will burden the Government with an additional expenditure in the range of US$70,000 for an appointee who will stay less than eight (8) months at post. Such kind of expenditure may be seen as grossly insensitive to the current mood of channeling all available resources towards relief and rebuilding for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy. 3. The global trend buttresses the call for a higher ratio of career ambassador over non-career appointees. Even the US, which has an embedded practice of appointing political ambassadors, has significantly reduced such appointments. Moreover, the highest ratio of political appointees in the US system was 33% under the

Reagan Administration---a figure that is at least 25% lower than the current ratio prevailing in the Philippines. Many countries---UK, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, Egypt, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, and India, to name a few---prefer the appointment of career diplomats as ambassadors/high commissioners. UK and France are exemplary on this point as both countries have constantly adhered to a ratio of 95%. 4. There is no transparency in the appointment of non-career ambassadors. The career corps is deeply disappointed and disheartened over the fact that it has not been informed nor consulted prior to the issuance of such appointments. In the instant appointment of Mr. Conejos, dated 3 September 2009, the corresponding document, which appears patently flawed on its face and its process, was seen only about 3 weeks after said date. 5. Finally, though not squarely attending the appointment of Mr. Conejos, the career corps also takes issue over the issuance of appointments to persons beyond the age of 65. There are at least fourteen (14) non-career ambassadors beyond 65 years old in violation of both the letter and spirit of Section 23 of the Foreign Service Act.

We have enough qualified, dedicated and energetic career chiefs of mission. Every political appointment nips the life’s career of six Foreign Service Officers. I am only one of them who had the honor of serving under your leadership for the last eight years as Consul General in Hong Kong and Ambassador to Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. I feel it is both my duty and responsibility to bring to your immediate attention this matter. Equally important, my colleagues in the foreign service hope that your term as President will have a legacy that strengthened the drive towards professionalizing the Foreign Service. A constitutionally mandated career service is a true pillar of a strong Republic. This was the legacy of your great father who authored the first Philippine Foreign Service Act. We trust it is yours too. Sincerely,

VICTORIA S. BATACLAN President Union of Foreign Service Officers (Unifors)

List of Career & Non-Career Ambassadors (as of 28 September 2009) Career 1. Amman (Julius Torres) 2. Ankara (Pedro Chan) 3. Bangkok (Antonio Rodriguez) 4. Beirut (Gilberto Asuque) 5. Berne (Ma. Theresa Lazaro) 6. Brasilia (Teresita Barsana) 7. Brussels (Cristina Ortega) 8. Bucharest (Isaias Begonia) 9. Buenos Aires (Rey Carandang) 10. Cairo (Oscar Valenzuela) 11. Caracas (Jocelyn Garcia) 12. Damascus (Wilfredo Cuyugan) 13. Dili (Aileen Bugarin) 14. Doha (Crescente Relacion) 15. Dublin (Ariel Abadilla) 16. Geneva PM (Erlinda Basilio) 17. Hanoi (Laura del Rosario) 18. Havana (MacArthur Corsino) 19. Islamabad (Jaime Yambao) 20. Kuala Lumpur (Victoriano Lecaros) 21. Kuwait (Ricardo Endaya) 22. Manama (Corazon Bahjin) 23. Moscow (Victor Garcia) 24. Nairobi (Domingo Lucenario) 25. Oslo (Elizabeth Buensuceso) 26. Paris (Rora Tolentino) 27. Pretoria (Virgil Reyes) 28. Seoul (Luis Cruz) 29. Singapore (Minda Cruz) 30. Stockholm (Zen Collinson) 31. Tel-aviv (Petronila Garcia) 32. Tripoli (Alejandrino Vicente) 33. Vienna (Linglingay Lacanlale) 34. Vientiane (Marilyn

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

Non-career ASEAN PM (Orly Mercado) Athens (Bobby Tiglao) Beijing (Sonia Bradyret) Berlin (Delia Albert-ret) Budapest (Alejandro del Rosario) Brunei (Alexander Yano) Canberra (Ernesto de Leon) Dhaka (Zenaida Rabago-ret) Holy See (Mercy Tuason) Jakarta (Vidal Querol) Koror (Ramoncito Marino) London (Antonio Lagdameo) Madrid (Ana Ugarte) Mexico (Francisco Ortigas) Muscat (Acmad Omar) New Delhi (Francisco Benedicto) New York PM (Hilario Davide Jr.) Ottawa (Jose Brillantes) Phnom Penh (Noe Wong) Port Moresby (Shirley Vicario Ho) Prague (Irene Sarmiento) Riyadh (Antonio Villamor) Rome (Philippe Lhuiller) Santiago (Consuelo Puyat Reyes) Tehran (Generoso Senga) The Hague (Cardozo Luna)

1. 2. 3.

CDA Abu Dhabi Abuja Baghdad

35. 36.

Alarilla) Washington, D.C. (Willy Gaa) Yangon (Hellen Barber)

27. Tokyo (Domingo Siazon-ret) 28. Wellington (Bienvenido Tejano) 29. WTO PM (Manuel Antonio Teehankee)

Names in BOLD – Tour has ended (or about to end in 60 days). – 8 career ambassadors.