Post-diplomatic lift

Our email address has been filled with a lot of email in reaction to our column item entitled “Diplomatic lift” (July 3, 2007 issue) but the most interesting one came from Robert Neff, reporter of The Korea Herald who first broke the story about a Filipino diplomat caught on camera trying to shoplift from the PX store of the Yongsan military base in South Korea. Neff emailed us his version of that shoplifting story involving outgoing Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Susan Castrence and attached the link to his July 5, 2007 article implying that Ambassador Castrence, as well as officials of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, had not been totally upfront and honest about the whole issue. Neff pointed out the supposed inconsistencies in the statements from Philippine Embassy officials who said the story was fabricated, along with a statement from DFA spokesperson Juan Cristobal initially saying the suspect was “definitely not” Ambassador Susan Castrence, as quoted in ABS-CBN news.

While it is common practice for newspapers and reporters to inform the subject of a critical news breaking story before publication, Castrence had criticized The Korea Herald for “not checking the facts” and for failing to give her the courtesy of informing her about the story prior to its publication – an allegation that The Korea Herald disputed. “The Korea Herald made repeated attempts to get a statement from Embassy Officials,” Neff wrote, naming Consul Juan Dayang as the official who was first approached for a statement.

It looks like some finger-pointing is happening with Ambassador Castrence saying Dayang may have been negligent in failing to call her attention to the matter. And while Philippine Embassy officials in Seoul seem inclined to dismiss the incident simply as a terrible “mistake,” insisting that the matter had been resolved on the spot at the PX store, Neff cited records at the US Provost Marshall’s office indicating that “on Nov. 28, 2006, Castrence was suspected of shoplifting a karaoke microphone chip and a bottle of Gucci perfume worth $118.60.” Asked why authorities would take the trouble of filing a shoplifting report if the incident has been closed on the spot, Castrence did not offer any explanation.

I have been emphatically urging the DFA to get to the bottom of the issue because that shoplifting incident continues to cause untold embarrassment not only to Embassy officials but to the country as a whole – and now comes this alliance of Filipino migrant workers called Kasammako (Katipunan ng mga Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea) accusing the DFA in Manila of covering up the shoplifting incident. Kasammako makes specific damning allegations about the incident – which were subsequently published at The Korea Herald – claiming they have direct information that “a security camera clearly shows Ambassador Castrence took the stolen items.” The PX store manager reportedly approached Castrence to discreetly resolve the matter, to which the latter said she wanted to smoke a cigar first. In the act of lighting a cigarette, the diplomat reportedly dropped the stolen items and kicked them back inside the PX shop, and then denied any wrongdoing. Kasammako’s statement also said the wife of a senior US commissary officer confirmed the details of the incident. Apparently, the group is unhappy that so much time and effort is spent “to cover up and coddle Ambassador Castrence, while the rights and conditions of both documented and undocumented migrants have not been addressed since Castrence took up the post,” the workers’ group complained.

The migrant workers’ alliance – which incidentally carried the initial Korea Herald news report in a website along with a parenthetical note quoting sources saying the diplomat involved was the Ambassador to South Korea – is challenging the DFA to “admit the truth” about the whole thing. Once and for all, the DFA should get to the bottom of the whole issue. They should stop making these flimsy excuses about the incident not worth looking into because the whole thing is getting blown out of proportion, and is causing such acute embarrassment to the country. By the way, our friend Victor Garcia who was former ambassador to Vienna and now in charge of the legal affairs at the DFA has been nominated Ambassador to Moscow.  His new assignment has nothing to do with this case of shoplifting – so I’m told.

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Talking about legal matters, it seems the legal profession is becoming more and more lucrative, with a lot of law firms being put up – one of them by Atty. Pablo “Boy” de Borja, a former classmate at the Ateneo, with his DB Law Partnership based in Makati. I understand DB Law is engaged in all fields of law practice particularly corporate, litigation, labor, immigration, intellectual property and even information technology. Of course, there are a number of successful law offices here but only a few are considered topnotch and are doing really well, like ACCRA (Angara Abello Concepcio Regala & Cruz). It was organized in 1972 but its growth was so phenomenal that it has become recognized as one of the country’s undisputed top law firms. ACCRA will be celebrating its 35th year this July 26 at the Makati Shangri-La.  Of course, there’s Pancho Villaraza’s law firm, a high caliber law firm – formerly known as “The Firm” but now known as “the other firm.”

There’s such a demand for lawyers that even the National Bureau of Investigation is reinforcing efforts to recruit lawyers among its ranks. NBI Director Nestor Mantaring disclosed their new batch of trainees who recently graduated included 17 lawyers and four CPAs which would really beef up the ranks of the NBI. The appointment of Director Mantaring as NBI chief was one of the best appointments GMA has ever made. Now the NBI is getting the reputation as the country’s most credible law enforcement agency. 

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