US ambassador’s sudden ‘recall’ sendsambiguous but fascinating message

Just like that. American Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., unless there’s a delay, was scheduled to fly out of Manila yesterday at the crack of dawn bound for Washington, DC on what his boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, described as a "temporary assignment" to head an American team tasked to help Iraq’s transition to democracy.

The recall of Ricciardone was so precipitate, however, that Powell had to personally phone our President Macapagal-Arroyo to inform her of the US enjoy’s departure and "thank" her for the Philippines’ assistance in rebuilding Iraq.

Indeed, Frank Ricciardone is an excellent choice to lead such a special mission in still war-wracked Iraq – since he is fluent in Arabic, Turkish, French, and Italian. From March 1999 until early 2001, just prior to his assignment here, he had, in fact, served as the US Secretary of State’s Special Coordinator for the "Transition of Iraq". He had also served as Director of the Department’s Task Force on the Coalition Against Terrorism.

His assignments in the past had included two tours in Turkey, the most recent one in 1995-1999, as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara, then Charged’ Affaires. Postings in Cairo (Egypt), Amman (Jordan) and London familiarized Ricciardone with the Middle East and its military-geopolitics. In truth, his record shows he had been a member of two multinational military deployments – as chief of the Civilian Observer Unit of the Multinational Force and Observers in Egypt’s Sinai Desert, and as Political Advisor to the US and Turkish commanding generals who ran "Operation Provide Comfort" based in Turkey but also operated in Northern Iraq.

The above may establish Ricciardone’s credentials for this "sudden" Iraq mission, but the real question nags: Why at this crucial moment in Philippine politics, with election fever mounting, is the US Ambassador being pulled out for a new assignment that will surely take months? He is being yanked out just as he has learned to cope with our almost hysterical political vagaries. In short, Frank will be gone, certainly, until AFTER the May 10 elections.

Moreover, Colin Powell’s phrase, "temporary" assignment may mean, in diplomatic shorthand, that Ricciardone may not return at all. I’ve heard from our insiders that the American enjoy has politely requested his chiefs in State for permission to eventually come back to Manila, but they are non-committal.

That Iraqi thing, while valid owing to his expertise in that precise country and region, may be face-saving camouflage for the envoy’s permanent reassignment.

Did he make a mistake? Not likely. There will be speculation, inevitably, that it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) harassment issue, where 30 Filipino telecoms executives attending the Pacific Telecom Conference in Honolulu (Hawaii) were slapped with subpoenas, which prompted Ricciardone’s recall to Washington DC.

It may also be said that he was brought back to the US capital to "work out" a US visa for ex-president Joseph Estrada, where there have been complications.

Those are, in my opinion, merely in the category of "cover stories." There’s more to his recall than meets the eye.

Perhaps Ricciardone, who presented his credentials to President GMA only on February 21, 2002, and served here a relatively short time, was getting to sound too pro-Filipino – a definite "no, no" for US top diplomats. Possibly he was getting too chummy with President GMA herself, becoming almost a phone pal. But, after all, so did his Commander-in-Chief Dubya Bush.

This writer disagreed with Ricciardone vehemently on American bullying of the Philippines with regard to their pernicious "open skies" policy, so detrimental to our own Philippines air carriers, and the US insistence on being granted anomalous 7th Freedom Rights for cargo services. But Ricciardone, I can say, did a fine job as his nation’s envoy here – and, it must be added, was unusually sympathetic to Filipinos. The word of choice is simpatico.

Frank, you may or may not be back. Whatever the future holds, we bid you a fond adieu. I hesitate to say Hasta la vista, since California Governor Arnie Schwarzenegger in the flickers made that sentimental expression more a threat than an endearment.

Hopefully, Frank will find that it’s safer in Baghdad than in Metro Manila.

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She may be criticized for this, but President GMA has sent discreet word to US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, expressing the Philippine government’s plea for an exception to be made in granting deposed President Erap a US visa on compassionate and "humanitarian" grounds.

This report will, of course, be roundly denied by the usual Palace spokesperson.

There’s a strong possibility that the White House may, on the above-cited basis, give Erap an exception to the post-911 Bush order that all former or serving chiefs of state facing criminal charges in their home countries should not be issued US visas.

Our envoy to Washington DC, Ambassador Albert del Rosario, now in town, may be instructed to carry the "follow-up" papers back to the US capital.

As for that FBI foul-up in Honolulu, I met Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia D. Albert yesterday, and she told me the DFA was pursuing its strong protest on the harassment of those Filipino executives who were attending a conference in Hawaii. "We are pushing this to the hilt," Secretary Albert resolutely declared.

Those tough-guy FBI agents must have been seeing too many episodes of Alias and 24 Hours, sanamagan.

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Chairman Ben Abalos of the Commission on Elections has no choice but to file a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court. Not to do so would be viewed as a confession of guilt on the part of the Comelec commissioners in the automated counting machine boondoggle.

On the other hand, the Comelec must move quickly on the presumption that we will probably have to revert to the old "manual" method. I won’t prejudge the issue by observing that it is highly unlikely virtually impossible that the High Tribunal will reverse its strongly-worded decision to void the P1.3-billion contracts.

It’s interesting to note that the three Associate Justices who cast dissenting votes were the ones most recently appointed to the Supreme Court by the Palace: Justices Dante Tinga, Renato Corona, and Adolf Azcuna. This is . . . er, probably only a coincidence.

The members of the High Tribunal – who voted, en banc, to void Comelec Resolution No. 6074 awarding the contract for Phase II of the AES to Mega Pacific Consortium and the contract between the Comelec and Mega Pacific eSolutions – were Justices Reynato Puno, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, Antonio Carpio, Alicia Austria Martinez, Conchita Morales, Romeo Callejo – and, naturally, the ponente of the decision himself, Artemio V. Panganiban.

Chief Justice Hilario Davide and Justice Jose Vitug both said the petition should be dismissed, which in effect means the Mega Pacific contract stays due to legal technicalities.

There is a finding in the decision that the Comelec "chose to ignore this crucial deficiency, which should have been a cause for the gravest concern", adding that "come May 2004, unscrupulous persons may take advantage of and exploit such deficiency by repeatedly downloading and feeding into the computers results favorable to a particular candidate or candidates."

The chilling statement in the decision states: "We are confronted with the grim prospect of election fraud on a massive scale by means of just a few key strokes."

The High Tribunal, after carefully studying the issue, has verbalized the concern of millions of Filipinos – that mechanized fraud might be in prospect. I think we should be thankful that the Court, through its bold decision exposing a scam of gigantic proportions, has saved us from a potentially "violent" catastrophe.

As for sidewalk observers like you and me, don’t you find it strange that the Comelec gave such a giant contract to a group hastily incorporated not long before the "bidding", and that, if it’s true, more than P800 million might already have been paid to the winning bidders and suppliers, when the vital software on the project still hasn’t even been delivered?

You know how difficult it is to be paid by the government even in contracts which have been fulfilled a year or two earlier. Sus, some people get all the breaks!

A shadow, naturally, has fallen on the Comelec and the Commission’s ability to conduct clean and efficient elections – with 40 million voters now doubly anxious about the "outcome".

Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo, it’s known, was virtually eased out as Comelec Chairman because he battled a similar kind of fast-track deal. Remember?

Anyway, two of the Comelec Commissioners in this imbroglio are retiring this February. However, they’ll be replaced by GMA appointees.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . As this went to press, Ambassador Ricciardone rang up to say "goodbye". He said he hoped his assignment would be "only temporary", and that he would come back as soon as possible to the Philippines. "Just when I was beginning to enjoy myself", he cracked, "here I’m leaving". He said he would be mainly based in Washington, DC and make official visits to Iraq. Rebuilding Iraq and building democracy, he admitted, "are a long process".