● Whoever is appointed by President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to replace Ambassador Albert del Rosario will have a
tough job ahead of him. This is because the outgoing ambassador has raised the
bar for the next Philippine ambassador to the United States to follow.
● For
instance, never in the history of the Philippine embassy in Washington
D.C. has an ambassador ever received the same
kind of adulation, friendship and support from the Filipino American community
not only here, but around the US,
than the outgoing ambassador. This was more vividly displayed by the
spontaneous collective outrage that the community expressed over what they
believed to be the “shabby” treatment the President gave the outgoing
ambassador. And as far as one can recall, no other Filipino ambassador to Washington has ever received the same kind of sendoff
that Mr. del Rosario was given by the Filipino American communities in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C.
and elsewhere.
● The new ambassador must also be able to
duplicate Del Rosario’s unconventional way of directly lobbying with members of
the US Congress, the State Department and the White House in order to obtain
more economic and military assistance to the Philippines. If he succeeded in
doing more for the country, it was because he is not a career ambassador who is
shackled by diplomatic protocol.
● And if the outgoing ambassador was
listened to by official Washington, it was because through his actions and
deeds during the past five years, he developed an image of a more ‘credible’
representative of the Philippines and the Filipino people, not a mere
propagandist for a government that is currently in the midst of political
controversies.
● And last, but not least, the incoming
ambassador must recognize the growing power of the Filipino American community
and know how to utilize it for the benefit of the Philippines.
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