Diplomatic corpse

It must be difficult to be an ambassador of this great republic nowadays. 

The job is demanding. Not only does he or she have to know international law like the back of their well-manicured hands, possess the delicate ability to spread the right amount of politesse on various functionaries’ sensitive egos, and be fluent in several languages, the consummate diplomat also has to be steeped in Philippine history, and be able to recall momentous events in the home country in a twinkling.

But, under this administration, that’s not even half of it. Apparently, on top of these stringent requirements, the envoy extraordinaire should also know when to take the perfect shot. Photographer-on-demand – that’s what he also has to be.

Which probably means our dear ambassadors shouldn’t go to the loo just because nature has the temerity to call. After all, once the royal subject thinks she’s in the perfect frame, convinced that back home, this would be recognized as the diplomatic coup of the decade, the ambassador has to morph into paparazzo on cue.

Poor Ambassador Willy Gaa. Just because he wasn’t there to take the photo of our President when she was desperately trying to rub some black on her elbows, this after she had flown all the way to Washington from the Middle East in the hopes she could meet Barack Obama, the Ambassador has now reportedly been sacked.

Of course, this sends just the right message to our diplomatic corps. They’ve been quite noisy these days, asking the President to stop filling in the vacant posts with retired military officers in what is perceived to be more payback for favors past, and maybe hoping to persuade her to choose from among the ranks of those who’ve dedicated their lives to the foreign service. I guess they shouldn’t hold their breath. This cavalier treatment shows all of us just what the President thinks of those occupying these positions. Yes, yes, we all know these are positions of mere privilege, and the holders of these offices merely serve at the pleasure of the President. We just didn’t realize she’d take it quite so literally.

Never mind Ambassador Gaa’s service, which for all I know could have been quite distinguished. (I met the Ambassador once in Shanghai, when he was still posted there, and while I never really had the chance to ‘bond’ with the Ambassador, I was pleasantly surprised he didn’t come off as arrogant or stand-offish. So, that was a plus right there.)

What’s more important is this concept that the foreign service is one of the more prestigious careers available to bright young hopefuls, where the best of the best hope to land after a grueling ordeal. That’s now perhaps just a myth, given the humiliation they can expect to receive once they’re in.

They say that our ambassadors are posted so that they represent the country. I cut this from some random webpage: “Another duty of early modern diplomats was to represent their ruler as if he were present. The ambassador stood in the place of his master and therefore represented both his person and prestige.”

In this, the President seems to be actually doing the right thing – choosing those who really represent her core values. Her government is peopled by unfeeling bureaucrats out to make the quickest buck possible, with no real concern for the citizens they are supposed to govern, and whose only agenda is self-promotion. Hard work and sacrifice? Antithetical to the executive branch.

Given these parameters, she’s actually doing the right thing by overlooking experience, long service, dedication and pure intellect. Who cares about those? By judging her representatives not because of their ability to negotiate, or to protect our sovereign interests, but because of whether they’re able to make her perpetuate her “place in history” by being caught at the right time and place talking to the numero uno head honcho, she’s only being true to her government’s nature.   She’s actually being honest!

Statesmanship? Strategic thinking? Meritocracy? Nah – in this government, the photo-whore rules!