GMA to discuss treatment of TNTs with Powell

Deport them with their dignity intact.

President Arroyo said yesterday she intends to discuss the issue of the treatment given to the recent batch of Filipinos — mostly deported illegal immigrants and workers, as well as some felons — from the United States with US Secretary of State Colin Powell when he makes an official visit to the Philippines on Aug. 2.

The President, acting in her concurrent capacity as Foreign Affairs Secretary, revealed her talking points with Powell in an informal luncheon press conference at Malacañang.

She specifically cited the recent deportation of 60 arrested Filipino TNTs (tago ng tago, or on the run, in Tagalog slang) who were deported to the Philippines on board a special US government chartered flight that landed at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark Field, Pampanga: "I’ve said that we have to work for dignified treatment for our overseas Filipinos. I don’t want them coming back on a chartered flight just because they are deported Filipinos. Let them come back on a regular commercial flight. I have conveyed that (to Powell). I don’t know how the DFA did it before I left... the controversy occurred before I took over (the DFA)."

"I don’t think they should have handcuffs (on)," she added, referring to the fact that the deportees had been handcuffed throughout the flight and the handcuffs were removed by US Immigration officials when the deportees alighted from the plane and stepped on Philippine soil.

While she noted that the ongoing crackdown on illegal and overstaying aliens in the US does not specifically target Filipinos, the Chief Executive said she does not want a repeat of the indignities suffered by the deportees, especially their being brought home handcuffed.

She also said she intends to stick to her policies at the DFA to appoint career foreign service officers to ambassadorial posts. Mrs. Arroyo’s headhunting to-do list will begin with appointing a new ambassador to Kuala Lumpur after her recent appointment of Philippine envoy to Malaysia Jose Brillantes as DFA Undersecretary.

Mrs. Arroyo said she originally wanted her adviser on foreign trips and state visits, Marciano Paynor Jr., who once served as the Philippine Ambassador to Israel, to replace Brillantes: "But I think Jun Paynor is needed more in (the) Los Angeles (consular office) at the moment. But the list is empty."

Mrs. Arroyo has instructed the Palace Search Committee to look for career candidates for the vacancy.

The President took over the DFA’s top post on July 16, after Vice President Teofisto Guingona resigned as DFA Secretary.