Ex-envoy assumes post as DFA undersecretary

MANILA, Philippines - A senior career diplomat has assumed the post as new undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Before assuming his current position last Nov. 5, Jesus Yabes was Philippine ambassador to Pakistan with concurrent jurisdiction over Afghanistan and the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

He replaced Esteban Conejos who was appointed as the country’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Yabes was also the country’s ambassador to Singapore from 1999 and 2002 and held various other positions in Philippine diplomatic and consular missions in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong, as well as DFA offices.

Before his appointment as undersecretary, Yabes was one of the senior career diplomats considered as Philippine ambassador to Beijing to replace Ambassador Sonia Brady, who had suffered a stroke.

In October 2009, the Union of Foreign Service Officers (UNIFORS) wrote a letter of complaint to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on behalf of career officers to protest the appointment of Conejos as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and the appointment of other political ambassadors.

The DFA defended the appointment of Conejos, saying it was valid and within the limit set by law.

Former UNIFORS president Victoria Bataclan raised to the President in a letter dated Oct. 1 the concern of the foreign service corps on the appointment of Conejos.

Conejos’ appointment, she said, not only set a precedent for non-career ambassadors in Philippine history, but also was an imminent breach of the statutory limit set by Section 17 of Republic Act 7157 or the Foreign Service Act of 1991.

The instant appointment would burden the government with an additional expenditure in the range of $70,000 for an appointee who would stay less than eight months at post.