In the second open letter of the Union of Filipino Foreign Service Officers (UNIFFORS) to Foreign Secretary Romulo, they asked him about his questionable moves on the search for the missing Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
The UNIFFORS is an underground group of foreign service officers who are critical of the DFA’s actions on a number of issues.
The Uniffors’ Nov. 1o letter:
Dear Mr Secretary:
After the resignation of the Hyatt 10 last July, you remained as the most
senior official in Mrs Arroyo’s cabinet. You also towered over the
holdovers and your boss in terms of wisdom, integrity and reputation not
only because you had stayed faithful up to that point to the proud Romulo
tradition in public life but also because of your apparently genuine
desire to serve our country.
In our first open letter, we urged you to consider your main task as one
of care and maintenance. We are deeply saddened to see you frittering
away your hard-won reputation by using your office and the Department of
Foreign Affairs to insure the survival of a discredited and collapsing
presidency. How?
Exhibit A: Congressman Gilbert Remulla asked the Department to find out
if Mr Virgilio Garcillano passed through Singapore. Undersecretary
Franklin Ebdalin received a reply from our embassy in the city-state but
was ordered to sit on the information while Malacañang tried to work out a
deal with the congressman involving the suspension of the governor of
Cavite and the assumption of office of the solon’s brother who is the vice
governor in exchange for the congressman’s losing interest in following up
the Garci lead. The ploy backfired and Mr Ebdalin was authorized to
transmit the embassy’s reply to Mr Remulla’s congressional committee.
Exhibit B: Representative Remulla subsequently requested the DFA to
instruct our missions in Argentina and Brazil to find out if Mr Garcillano
had entered the two countries. As acting secretary, Mr Ebdalin sent out
written orders to Buenos Aires and Brasilia to secure the information from
the authorities of the two countries. A few days later, his instructions
were rescinded upon your authority. Then the two embassies were told to
follow the initial orders. Why was this delaying tactic resorted to?
Were the final instructions transmitted to put on record that there was
substantial, albeit grudging, compliance with the congressional request?
Exhibit C: The secretary authorized then-Undersecretary Jose Brillantes
to travel to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to gather statements of support for
the crumbling Arroyo administration from Filipinos in the two countries.
Since when could travel funds allocated for the conduct of foreign
relations be utterly wasted for strictly domestic partisan purposes? And
for an illegal purpose at that! In Kuala Lumpur, the sham manifesto
signing took place within the embassy premises itself.
Exhibit D: At the hearing of Ambassador-designate Amando Doronila before
the Commission on Appointments, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile inquired if the
necessary staff work and background check on the Doronila nomination had
been carried out by your office and the secretary replied in the
affirmative. A direct call that had been made by the senator to the
secretary’s office revealed the exact opposite, prompting Mr Enrile to
describe his former senate colleague as not being truthful. How often
does a foreign secretary attend the confirmation hearing of a political
appointee only to be stingy with the truth and in the process, waste not
only his own credibility but that of the Department as well.
There are other exhibits which our eyes and ears throughout the Department
have passed on to us, Mr Secretary, but the four we have just submitted
for your perusal will suffice for now.
Last week, we read news articles about your alleged comment that you had
given up on Mrs Arroyo and our initial reaction was “well it’s about time
he did.” While we are in no position to verify the obviously leaked
report, the fact that the sources of the leak even considered that you
could feel that way gives us a glimmer of hope.
It is not yet too late, Mr Secretary. A good and decent man like you,
probably the only person in Mrs Arroyo’s inner circle who can still
distinguish between good and evil, can still find your way to drawing the
line between serving the people by following our Fundamental Law, and
prostituting yourself and the Foreign Service by going beyond legal and
moral limits to prop up an impostor and her tottering regime. If men of
lower rank and lesser responsibilities such as Undersecretary Luz, General
Gudani and LtCol Balutan have been able to draw that line, a man of your
stature could do the same and create a greater impact.
If you do live up to the Romulo legacy, Mr Secretary, we will once again
salute you and as a sign of solidarity, we will call upon the entire
Foreign Service to go on mass leave so that together we will send an
unequivocal message to the illegal tenant in the palace that her days in
Malacañang are numbered.
Sincerely yours,
I hope Remulla or some senator subpoenas the communications between the home office and the south american embassies. My DFA sources tell me that those cables show Romulo’s office instucting the embassies to delay inquiries on Garci.
hi ms. ellen. i always read your column. all i can say is gma as well as her government officials are immoral, greedy and inutil. i wonder if our children will still have a better future here. anyway, di natutulog and dyos, ang lahat ay may katapusan. kaya lan, kelan kaya sila makakarma?
by the way, the reason why i chat with you, just would like to share some healthy tips:
to cure/prevent canser: just eat carrot dip into bits of sugar everyday; after shower, dab powder into your breast, puson, singit and s panty din.
virus (symptoms:headache, stomache, and lagnat)just keep on drinking a glass of water with a teaspoon of white sugar.do not eat rice yet, instead eat bread alone no fillings. there’s no harm in doing these. i’m just concerned with your health. pls. don’t publish my name. thanks and more power.
more power to you,ms ellen tordesillas.
your comments really have substance.
I pray that GMA wil be ousted by hook or by crook.
we filipinos don`t need a lier,cheater and corrupt
leader.she`s a fake President.
I wonder in my prayer,why we filipinos have
this kind of nightmare.
having a no credibility leader and fake president,
thank you and God Bless you,
Thanks, Eleanor.
Your name will have to be published but not your e-mail address. Don’t worry, all that you said are true and very well appreciated.
I’m wondering if DFA has also looked for Garci in Poland where he was reported to be hiding for sometime in the pier facility owned by GMA supporter, Ricky Razon.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Poland is under the jurisdiction of Ambassador to Hungary Andy del Rosario who used to be the publisher of Razon, Manila Standard, now renamed Manila Standard Today.
As long as the top honcho in the DFA continues to participate in the greatest cover-up in Philippine political history, the organization will not seriously try to locate Garci. It will simply go through the motions of doing so.
Unless Mr. Romulo makes a dramatic turnaround,the only hope now is that some of our diplomats follow their conscience and employ a little initiative. Otherwise the search for Garci will only lead to a deadend.
The Poland story has legs because Razon has closed his office in buenos aires. However I think the real story here is the delaying tactics by Romulo. As they said about Watergate, sometimes the cover-up is worse than the crime itself.
The cover-up indicates guilt on the part of Arroyo. And you are right, it’s worse than the crime itself.
Don’t be too harsh on Romulo. He is in government and it is only proper for him to be careful in commenting about the Garci case and about GMA. Nevetheless, he is a good man who will eventually find himself doing the right and good thing for the people at the right time.
As a people we can no longer evade the inevitable sacrifices that we have to do in hoping sa pagbubukang-liwayway ng isang bagong araw, is umagang sisikatan ng mabiyayang araw na makakamit lamang sa pagkakaisa nating lahat sa gitna ng paghihirap na pang-buong mundo naman.
Kailangan natin ng isang Pangulong malinis at walang bahid dungis at titingalain ng lahat. Yaong walang pagkukunwari at tunay na tao. Yaong walang nakaw na yaman bagama’t hindi likas na mayaman. Yaong may lamyos at may pandama sa paghihirap ng mas nakararaming Pilipino. Yaong nanaisin pang isakripisyo ang sarili kaysa makitang higit pang apihin ang mga naninirahan sa daigdig ng mga api. Yaong ituturing nating kabilang natin kahit mayaman ka man o mahirap. Yaong tunay na Pilipino at ipinakikipaglaban ang kaniyang pagiging Pilipino.
Ellen,
There is no question that in the Garci case Romulo has corrupted the goals
of the DFA. This is inevitable because the DFA also meets
the defination of an agency that is under corrupt management. Two key officials named as guardians of the merit system themselves broke the law by having their
retirement extended beyond age 65 as required by law. Half
a dozen other ambassadors abroad are holding office beyond the mandatory retirement age in violation of law. They will soon be joined by another four ambassadors who will ask for extensions judging by their belated assignments abroad just a few months before their compulsory retirements. This arrangement suits GMA, these career ambassadors become beholden to her for their continuation in office.
We have now an incongruous situation abroad. Our ambassadors are supposed to convince foreign investors and tourists to visit our country and assure them there is law and order at home. However, the ambassadors themselves are lawbreakers.
The DFA, like the Foreign Ministries of other democratic countries, is supposed to be apolitical. The
only time the DFA should join domestic political debate
is when the Foreign Policy of the Philippines being implemented by the DFA is under attack. But the DFA is not
supposed to get involved in other domestic issues like
insuring the survival of the GMA regime. This was done
in the current Garci case and earlier when Undersec.
Brilliantes made the OFWs abroad sign resolutions
supporting the GMA administration in the election cheating
and impeachment debates.
The current Administrative Code of 1987 clearly
defined the functions of the DFA thus :
Sec.2, Mandate – The Department shall be the lead
agency that shall advise and assist the President
in planning, organizing, directing, coordinating
and evaluating the total national effort in
the field of foreign relations.
Nothing is said in the above law about the DFA getting involved in local political disputes like insuring the survival of the GMA administration or participating in the cover up as to the whereabouts of Garci.
The DFA has joined the growing list of supposedly
apolitical institutions of the country like the NBI,
PNP, NISA,AFP, etc. which GMA has politicized to ensure
regime survival.
One of Arroyo’s achievements is the destruction of institutions and the DFA is one that stands out among her victims. That’s because they have a secretary that says “yes” to everything that Arroyo says.
Ellen,
That is a subtle use of oxymoron – achievement and destruction…Amuck Arroyo is getting her way because of spineless advisers insulating her from reality.But of course, it is downright impossible to stand up against AGR (arroyo’s golden rule): men are told by woman who got the gold.
Alitaptap
More power to you, ang may our dear Lord above protect you everyday in your daily endevour, just keep on writing the truth!
May the glory of our Almighty God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ be shine in your heart and home this Christmas and throughout the coming New year.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be you always and give you a wisdom knowledge to continue writing the corruption of the goivernmemt.
GOD BLESS