Kris accepts UN post

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino’s sister, actress and television host Kris Aquino, has accepted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ appointment as honorary patron, a step closer to becoming goodwill ambassador like Hollywood star Angelina Jolie.

Malacañang, through deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, welcomed Kris’ acceptance of the job.

“We are certain that she will do her best to discharge her functions,” Valte said.

Valte also clarified that the President did not appoint his own sister to the UN post but this was offered by the UNHCR.

“Ms. Aquino will help in the UN missions... Ms. Kris Aquino, when she puts her mind to something – like when she helped the DOH (Department of Health) in the campaign against dengue – she goes all out. And when she puts her heart and her mind into it, we are confident that she can ably help them,” Valte said in a press briefing yesterday.

In her Twitter account, Kris said she just finished dinner with the UNHCR representatives on Tuesday night and “I accepted their appointment.”

“I’m in excellent company. Angelina Jolie is the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. I’m honorary patron together with Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls, Khaled Hosseini, author of ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ and ‘Kite Runner,’ and Yao Chen from China, super pretty actress and their Twitter queen with 13 million followers,” Kris wrote.

“Four honorary patrons and one goodwill ambassador in the whole world. I am so looking forward to doing good work with UNHCR for the next two years,” she said.

According to Kris, “Luol Deng, Khaled Hosseini and I share one thing in common, all of us have families who were granted political asylum and we benefited greatly from the experience of living in freedom.”

Kris also said that with her new UN post, running for public office in 2013 would already be out of the question. She was reportedly eyeing to run for Tarlac governor during the midterm elections.

“I’m a Makati resident and voter. I want to help Tarlac in a private capacity... the (UNHCR) appointment is for three years and part of the agreement is that I won’t seek any political office for the duration of my United Nations involvement. So definitely no seeking elective office in 2013,” she said.

It was Presidential Political Adviser Ronald Llamas who bared the UNHCR’s offer for Kris to become one of its ambassadors, as the Aquino family had been political refugees themselves during the Marcos regime.