Who wants to be an ambassador?

[_Qwerty_]

Philippine Ambassador Domingo Lee's CA hearing as presidential candidate to the position of Ambassador to the People's Republic of China

[_Qwerty_]

parang nakakahiya naman yan.. ganyan ba mga ambassador na nilalagay natin sa ibang bansa?

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/192...a-confirmation

Philippine envoy to China fails to get CA confirmation

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine ambassador to China Domingo Lee failed to get the confirmation of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday even after under intense questioning from a senator, who expressed concern over his alleged “lack of experience and training” in the field of diplomacy.

The Commission’s committee on foreign affairs suspended its hearing without endorsing Lee’s appointment to the plenary.

During the hearing, Senator Sergio Osmeña peppered Lee with questions even asking him to define the terms “diplomacy,” “track one diplomacy,” and “hard power.

“You are in the field of diplomacy. Can you define what diplomacy is?” he asked during the hearing of the Commission’s committee on foreign affairs.

“Diplomacy is from time to time entails friendship…closer relationship with countries that you expect to be assigned,” said Lee.

“No sir, that’s not diplomacy? Would you like to try again?” said Osmeña.

And when Lee failed to answer his question, the senator answered his own question, saying that diplomacy is defined in wikipedia as the art of practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or estates.

“Yes, maybe the goal of diplomacy is always to maintain friendship but it’s the practice of negotiating,” said Osmeña.

The senator proceeded and asked Lee to define what hard power is.

Lee answered, “A strong…” followed by a strong pause that prompted Osmeña to say, “You’re guessing now. Are you familiar with the term hard power?”

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was presiding over the hearing, even spelled the word “hard” for the ambassador.

“If I’m right hard power is a strong expression…” said Lee.

But Osmeña corrected the ambassador when he pointed out that hard power is either the use of military force or economic sanctions in order to obtain one’s goals

“So therefore, by that, you would now understand what is meant by the term soft power?” Osmeña asked again.

“Yes your honor, soft power is not going to war,” said Lee.

But Osmeña was not satisfied again, saying the precise definition of soft power is the use of nice things like economic aid, cultural ties, among others.

This did not stop the senator, however, and started asking the definitions of track one, track two and track three diplomacy.

“I have to admit I don’t know the term,” Lee said.

At that point, Osmeña explained why he was raising those questions at the ambassador.

“When we met about two months ago, I did ask you to study a lot because my concern was that your lack of experience, your lack of training would be a set back to the Filipino people if you are going to be sent to Beijing,” said the senator.

“We’re trying to test your fitness and competence for the petition, your ability to learn new things because obviously you are not trained and have not been trained in the field of diplomacy,” he added.

[vinj]

Di siya nag lifeline?

We'll need a pretty good Ambassador at that since China is quite a strenuous animal to deal with.

[Tifosi]

So much for DAANG MATUWID. Ano ba ang relationship ni Lee to AbNoy?

[shadow]

nothing new. ambassadorship is really just an accommodation sa mga taong nakatulong sa Presidente...of course some positions dapat career officer like sa washington etc..pero pansinin niyo yun mga sa Japan and especially sa mga European countries mga parang nagvacation na lang yun ma appoint na ambassadors doon, wala naman masyadong Filipinos, walang ginagawa yun embassy natin doon sa european countries, puro party lang ginagawa ng mga ambassadors natin kaya nga meron bill na bawasan na yun embassy natin sa Europe dahil dagdag lang sa gastos eh...

kakatawa nga yun Lopez na ambassador natin sa Japan. akala niya vacation siya for 6 years eh nagkalindol and tsunami sa Japan nagkarooon tuloy sila ng work, ang isa pang pinaka ayaw na lugar na maassign eh sa middle east daming trabaho sakit ng ulo dahil daming OFW.

tingnan niyo si Tiglao nun panahon ni Pandak sa Greece na assign eh di baksayon grande siya doon.

[vinj]

nothing new. ambassadorship is really just an accommodation sa mga taong nakatulong sa Presidente...of course some positions dapat career officer like sa washington etc..pero pansinin niyo yun mga sa Japan and especially sa mga European countries mga parang nagvacation na lang yun ma appoint na ambassadors doon, wala naman masyadong Filipinos, walang ginagawa yun embassy natin doon sa european countries, puro party lang ginagawa ng mga ambassadors natin kaya nga meron bill na bawasan na yun embassy natin sa Europe dahil dagdag lang sa gastos eh...

kakatawa nga yun Lopez na ambassador natin sa Japan. akala niya vacation siya for 6 years eh nagkalindol and tsunami sa Japan nagkarooon tuloy sila ng work, ang isa pang pinaka ayaw na lugar na maassign eh sa middle east daming trabaho sakit ng ulo dahil daming OFW.

tingnan niyo si Tiglao nun panahon ni Pandak sa Greece na assign eh di baksayon grande siya doon.

Yeah, but with China, that's one sensitive place.

Kaibigan ata ni Ninoy si Lee from what i read.

[niky]

Like shadow says, nothing new... Hell... even in the US, some diplomatic assignments are a joke, and are used as political favors by whoever's in power.

But in this case, it's Ninoy's chance to prove that he really wants to change the way things work by... changing the way things work.