Relief of RP envoy to Germany stirs rage

THE SUDDEN REMOVAL OF the Philippine ambassador to Germany may have more to do with bilateral relations between the two countries than being another case of an unconstitutional “midnight” appointment by President Macapagal-Arroyo.
A former diplomat raised this possibility Saturday in the wake of the relief of career Ambassador Delia Domingo-Albert, who has been replaced by 87-year-old businessman Alfonso Yuchengco.
The move sent shock waves within the Department of Foreign Affairs. Ironically, Albert learned about her removal last week when she flew to Manila to receive the “Most Outstanding Filipino Woman in Global Diplomacy” award from no less than the President herself.
“It’s really unusual because we normally give our officers a 60-day recall notice so he or she can do the traditional farewell calls and also officially notify the foreign office of the host country,” a senior DFA official told the Inquirer Saturday. The official asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter and a lack of authority to discuss it publicly.
Said Assistant Foreign Secretary Vicky Bataclan, the president of the Union of Foreign Service Officers:
“Our beef is that Mr. Alfonso Yuchengco’s appointment is void. There is no Commission on Appointments (CA) to confirm his nomination, which is [needed for] the necessary steps, like requesting his agrement from the German government.
In any case, all political ambassadors are coterminous with [the President]. This is, thus, a useless nomination to a nonexistent CA, almost void ab initio, if not unconstitutional.”
Bataclan added that by operation of law, all political ambassadors should be out of their countries of assignment on or before June 30.
No respect for int’l protocol
Jose Apolinario Lozada—a former envoy to Austria, Palau and the Holy See—said the case was more than just a last-minute appointment made by Ms Arroyo, whose term ends on June 30.
“Is there something wrong with our bilateral relations with Germany that the President had to replace Delia Albert immediately?” he said in a phone interview. “Why the haste?”
Lozada, who is running for senator under Joseph Estrada’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, added: “Besides the matter of midnight appointments, there is the more important issue concerning our international reputation, that it seems we have no respect for international protocol and the terms of service of foreign service officers.”
But Malacañang Saturday denied that there was anything irregular about the removal of Albert.
“No, it wasn’t hasty,” Gary Olivar, a deputy spokesperson of Ms Arroyo, said without elaborating.
Either-or
Lozada said the removal could either mean that Albert “did something wrong,” or that Germany might have done something that did not sit well with Manila.
“Domestically, it’s OK for us to change our people,” he said. “But in the international community where we are a small player, it’s not.”
On top of the 60-day recall notice, Lozada said an envoy who was about to be relieved was usually told about it 30 days in advance.
The senior DFA official noted that “it’s not the practice of the DFA to dispatch an ambassador until two things have occurred.”
Like Bataclan, he pointed out that a new envoy first had to be cleared by the CA and accepted by the foreign government.
He said both requirements were missing in the case of Yuchengco’s appointment, which he described as “problematic at this time.”
But when asked if the new president could end up settling the matter of Yuchengco’s appointment, he said: “That’s a possibility.”
Still, the official said Albert was not exactly irreplaceable.
“She is a political appointee because she is way past the retirement age,” the official said.
“She serves at the pleasure of the President and she is recallable at any time. As a general proposition, political appointees, like Cabinet members, are coterminous with the appointing authority. So she can only stay there, at most, up to June 30.”

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