CA confirms 3 nominees for ambassador

Three nominees for ambassador were confirmed yesterday by the Commission on Appointments (CA), while the appointment of veteran journalist Amando Doronila was put on hold.

Confirmed were Norberto Basilio, former foreign affairs assistant secretary for Middle East and African Affairs, as ambassador to Bangladesh; former Albay governor Al Francis Bichara as ambassador to Lebanon; and Vic Lecaros, former ambassador to Vietnam, as ambassador to Malaysia.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Senate committee on foreign relations chairwoman, said Doronila, who reportedly wanted to be appointed ambassador to France, was not recommended in the CA’s plenary session due to his health and age.

Santiago said age was given consideration because the Foreign Service Code requires that career ambassadors retire at 65 years of age.

"He is 77 years old, and we shall have to wait for a legal opinion, considering the lack of explicit provision in the Foreign Service Code on whether he can still qualify by reason of age since career ambassadors have to retire at age — he’s already 77," she said.

CA members are also aware that there is a pending case in the Supreme Court concerning the age issue, she added.

However, sources said Doronila also got a thumbs-down from senators for his harsh attacks in a newspaper column on deposed President Joseph Estrada and the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople.

Doronila’s attacks against Estrada before and after he was ousted, in excerpts from Sen. Edgardo Angara’s diaries, is one possible reason that a number of opposition senators have blocked his confirmation, sources added.

Doronila also failed to impress senators and some members of the diplomatic community with his attacks on Ople after the former senator was named foreign affairs secretary in 2002 by President Arroyo, sources said.

Quoting a medical certificate from cardiologist Dr. Dante Rosales, Santiago said Doronila had suffered a mild stroke, although Rosales considered the veteran journalist to have "no cardiac or medical contraindication" for local or foreign employment.

"Considering that he’s already 77 and has experienced a mild stroke and still under medical observation, these two items might reinforce each other and might place serious doubts on his capability to carry out the functions," she said.

Santiago said Doronila was not included in the plenary deliberations because Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile threatened to invoke Section 20 of the Senate rules if he were recommended.

Santiago supported Enrile’s call for the Department of Foreign Affairs or Malacañang to bare to the public the criteria for differentiating a political from a career ambassadorial post. — Christina Mendez