President Arroyo named Tiglao to replace Ambassador Lourdes Morales, who is ending her tour of duty in Greece and will be assigned to a new post in Cambodia.
"It will be a great honor for me to represent the Philippine Republic in the fountainhead of Western philosophy and civilization," Tiglao told The STAR. These are "new horizons, new challenges in the service of the republic," he added.
Asked why he accepted the foreign posting, Tiglao replied, "Why not?"
Clarifying that he is not abandoning the President at a critical period, Tiglao said all "indications" show "that the storm has passed," referring to the challenges facing Mrs. Arroyo’s leadership.
"I’m not leaving her at all. It’s from domestic to foreign service," he said.
Tiglao joined the Arroyo administration in 2001 as Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential spokesman, where he earned the ire of many lawmakers with his bitter rebuttals to criticisms against her administration.
Tiglao’s appointment papers will be submitted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to the Commission on Appointments (CA), which has the power to confirm his appointment.
He took a one-year leave of absence to avail himself of a scholarship grant in Tokyo, Japan. Before leaving for Tokyo, Tiglao, a widower, married his long-time girlfriend, Getheseme Selirio. Mrs. Arroyo was one of the godparents at his wedding.
When he returned to Manila, Mrs. Arroyo appointed Tiglao as her presidential chief of staff.
The President subsequently appointed Tiglao as PMS secretary in August 2004. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a heart problem and underwent a quintuple heart bypass operation late last year.
Prior to joining government service, Tiglao was the Manila bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine. He was also connected with the defunct newspaper BusinessDay.
At the DFA, Undersecretary for Administration Franklin Ebdalin said his office had not received Tiglao’s appointment papers, though he said "I heard about it." Ebdalin, whose office is in charge of diplomatic posting, said it is the President who makes the appointments and Malacañang sends the nomination papers to the DFA before the nominee faces the powerful CA. — With Pia Lee-Brago