Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady suffered a stroke in Beijing this week.
“Amb. Brady suffered a stroke and is hospitalized where her condition is being monitored closely,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario confirmed Brady’s condition in a text message to VERA Files.
Update DFA statement Aug. 25, 2012:
Foreign Secretary del Rosario was in Beijing Saturday to visit Amb. Sonia Cataumber Brady who is recovering well after a stroke.
While in Beijing, Sec. del Rosario also met with his Chinese counterpart Yang Yiechi. Discussions between Sec. del Rosario and Minister Yang were productive and issues of mutual concern were discussed in a positive atmosphere.
An official statement released by DFA Spokesman Raul Hernandez late Friday evening said:
“Amb. Sonia Brady was brought to the hospital last Wednesday after she passed out in her residence in Beijing. She is undergoing tests and waiting for the results. Her condition is stable but she is under observation. ”
“She is better now than when she was brought to the hospital last Wednesday,” Hernandez added in a later text advisory.
Brady, who turned 71 on Wednesday, the day she was brought to the hospital, had just recovered from a mild stroke when she was named ambassador to China last May at the height of the standoff between Philippine and China maritime vessels in Panatag shoal.
Aside from China, North Korea and Mongolia are also currently under Brady’s jurisdiction.
She is on her second stint at ambassador to China, having served in the same position from 2006 to 2010.
She was ambassador to Thailand and Myanmar before she was named envoy to China.
From 1976 to 1978, Brady served as third secretary and vice consul and was later second secretary and consul of the Philippine embassy in China.
Brady was plucked from retirement after President Benigno Aquino III’s first choice, family friend Domingo Lee, was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments several times.
Brady breezed through the CA as the members recognized her experience in China and diplomacy and the urgency of the situation. She waited only a month to be confirmed.
A career diplomat, Brady studied journalism at the University of Santo Tomas. She earned her foreign service degree at the University of the Philippines. She holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Southern California in 1987.
Brady served as assistant secretary in the Department of Foreign Affair’s Office of Policy and Coordination from 1999 to 2002.
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)
At 71 she talks to China, maaatake de corazon talaga si Amb Brady. Speedy recovery for the lady.
A diplomat friend said Amb. Brady is recovering well.
I hope she recovers quickly. You can see the difference between a career ambassador and a political appointee. The friction with China has cooled down a bit.
Talaga naman, Tongue.
Get well & recover very soon mrs. Ambassador!
hope for her recovery but….. sa totoo lang ang tao pag tumuntong na ng 60 , 65 y/o- ang dapat inaasikaso , health nila, appointments are all doctors appointment, blood test, medication list, will, living trust , di na career
I believe the Ambassador is motivated, not by career concerns, but by the need of the country.
It is true that health concerns begin to be primordial at that age. But if no young turks can adequately perform, then the veterans must step up to the plate.
Konrad Adenauer was 78 when duty called to raise Germany from the ashes of war. Deng Xiaoping was 75 when he took the helm to usher in the Chinese economic miracle. He took advise from a young fellow from a small country – then 55 year old Lee Kuan Yew. Justice John Paul Stevens retired at the age of 90.
May mga mahusay bang mga bata at career officials? Mayroon tiyak, kailangan lang maghanap; sa halip na ipinipilit yung matandang pulpol (Domingo Lee), na ang tanging alas ay ang pagka-malapit sa pamilya ng nagluluklok.
28 August 2012
Nothing personal on this, isn’t ironic that the DFA or the Government for that matter nominates a retired ambassador who suffered a stroke (mild) to assume as the President’s representative to a growing (getting bigger) country like China. We all know of the rigors of being an Ambassador, especially being assigned to China, especially now that we have a (strong) disagreement regarding the Panatag and Spratly.
Ipapadala mo yung kagagaling sa stroke, of course expect a relapse.
Brady can’t talk, maybe replaced- DFA
Ambassador to China Sonia Brady, who was recovering slowly from a stroke, might be replaced, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Monday.
“There is that possibility [that she would be replaced], yes,’’ Del Rosario told reporters in a chance interview after rites marking National Heroes’ Day at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in Taguig City.
Del Rosario, who visited Brady in Beijing last Saturday following her stroke, said he would “have to discuss’’ the matter of her possible replacement with President Benigno Aquino III.
“She’s not able to speak,’’ he said when asked if Brady expressed any intention to quit for health reasons. “She’s recovering slowly. Hopefully if the recovery rate continues, we may be able to bring her back to the Philippines.’’
Del Rosario said she was “being well cared for’’ and the Chinese foreign ministry was “monitoring the situation very carefully.’’
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/48264/philippine-envoy-to-china-might-be-replaced-says-dfa-chief