EDITORIAL - Friendship over experience and competence

Noynoy Aquino has named a new Philippine ambassador to China. His name is Domingo Lee. If you have not heard of him in diplomatic circles, it is because he has absolutely no diplomatic experience. 

But Lee possesses one qualification that many others do not have, and which carries far more weight than experience, as far as this administration is concerned. Lee is a family friend of the Aquinos. 

Lee will be replacing Francisco Benedicto, a Cebuano diplomat with decades of diplomatic experience under his belt. It didn’t matter to Aquino that Benedicto has served three presidents with postings in Singapore, South Korea, Brazil, Canada and India before being assigned to China.

China plays a very strategic importance not just to the world in general but also to the Philippines in particular. Not only is China an emerging global economic and military power, it is also a huge Philippine trading partner and a major player in our historical and cultural life.

And counting recent developments in the contested Spratly Islands, where both China and the Philippines are climants along with Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei, a large part of our territorial integrity and security are hitched to our relations with that country.

Given such pressing and strategic considerations in these difficult times, one would have thought Noynoy, if he truly had the national interest in mind, would keep a man as experienced and respected as Benedicto in China.

Or if Noynoy just cannot get any sleep over the fact that Benedicto is a hold-over from past administrations, the least he could have done was replace him with one whose qualifications far exceeds just being a family friend.

How unfortunate, and indeed how scary, that in matters of great national interest, such as the economy and territorial integrity, personal friendships should prevail over experience and competence.