(PHOTO AT LEFT - Ambassador Willy Gaa, the Philippine's soft-spoken chief diplomat)
MANILA, OCTOBER 26, 2010 (TRIBUNE ) By Michaela P. del Callar - Four months after issuing his executive order that directed all politically-appointed ambassadors who were co-terminus with President Gloria Arroyo to resign, President Aquino appears to have failed in filling up these ambassadorial positions and has even resorted to reappointing Arroyo's political ambassadors.
Aquino has temporarily retained Ambassador Willy Gaa as the
country's envoy to the United States after his earlier appointee declined the position due to "policy differences," Department of Foreign Affairs insiders said yesterday.
Gaa, a career diplomat who is already due for recall, was asked by Aquino to remain in his post for at least six months "until a suitable replacement is found," sources said.
Gaa has been assigned abroad for already eight years, which is two years in excess of the required six-year tour of duty for Philippine diplomats.
This has been largely ignored however, by the new Malacanang occupant,as he has retained Ambassador Puyat as the Philippine ambasador to Chile, who has been ambassador in the same place for years.
Aquino has also retained the Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Mercy Arrastia-Tuason, who was an Arroyo appointee.
Gaa was supposed to be replaced by former Trade Secretary Juan Santos, a member of the Hyatt 10, a group of Cabinet secretaries of then President Arroyo who had resigned in 2005 following a vote-rigging controversy allegedly involving Arroyo.
After Aquino won in the elections in May, Santos had been rumored to replace Alberto Romulo as Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary.
But when Romulo was retained in his post, Santos was instead given the ambassadorial post in Washington.
Sources said Santos, reportedly slighted by the decision, "is no longer keen" on taking the diplomatic post after Aquino chose Romulo over him as DFA Secretary.
"He is not interested in the post anymore," one of the sources said. "There are policy differences as well."
Santos has been appointed to another position in the Aquino administration, which he has accepted.
Gaa is only the second career diplomat to have been appointed as Philippine ambassador to the US, one of the most sought-after diplomatic assignments by career and political diplomats.
Initially assigned to the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC as Charge d' Affaires on July 25, 2006, he was subsequently appointed and confirmed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the US when he presented his credentials to former President George W. Bush on Dec. 8, 2006. Prior to his current position, he was Consul General of the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles .
Before his US postings, Gaa was ambassador to Australia from 2002 to 2003 then cross-posted to China and served there as ambassador from 2003 to 2006.
Aside from the US, at least 20 diplomatic posts have yet to be filled in by Aquino. Among these are: Poland, Netherlands, Canada, Philippine Permanent Mission to the Association of South East Asian Nations, Indonesia, China, Greece, Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and United Kingdom.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright, 2010 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
