(Transcript of Ambassador Baja’s response as The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Awardee for Bilateral and Multilateral Diplomacy, 6 December 2005 at the Insular Life Auditorium. Corporate City, Alabang)

I AM HONORED that two prestigious institutions in the Philippines—The Philippine Jaycees Senate and the Insular Life Insurance Corporation together with their media partner, The Philippine Star—have cited my achievements in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. It is heartwarming to realize that diplomacy has entered the realm of The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Awards and I am humbled to be the first recipient in this category.

Diplomacy is living life itself as we navigate and negotiate through its many challenges. And there is a diplomat in every one of us. A baby negotiates for his milk and dry diaper by crying; a mother invokes Santa Clause to secure the cooperation of his children; the best negotiators can be found in Divisoria or Greenhills.

The same objectives and processes obtain in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy in the international scene. The arena may be wider, the issue more complex and complicated, the stakes higher, but the principles remain the same.

I am privileged to be engaged, as Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in a highly visible Philippine multilateral diplomacy after we won election to the Security Council with an overwhelming vote of 179 out of 181 members present and voting in 2003.  Next to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Representative is the most visible Filipino diplomat in multilateral diplomacy and the Security Council is the crown jewel of the United Nations entrusted with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and empowered with the unique capacity to create international obligation and take enforcement action.

I am proud to say that the Philippines has established its own identity and has earned the respect of United Nations members with its assertive, constructive and substantive participation during its two year membership, which is about to end this year.

We have been cited for shepherding during our presidency of the Security Council in June last year, the landmark 1546 resolution on Iraq which established the political transition process in that country. We were lauded for bringing back unity in the Security Council and multilateralism to the core of the United Nations. Just recently—last September—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presided over a historic and successful Summit of the Council—the first Filipino, the first Asian and the first woman leader to do so. It was one of the finest hours in Philippine in multilateral diplomacy. How we did it is a fertile study of the wheeling and dealing of diplomacy.

When we conceived of the idea of the Council Summit, the Undersecretary General for Political Affairs said “we are engaging in a mission impossible.”  For this means bringing together leaders as diverse as Presidents George W. Bush, Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin and Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Dominique Villepin to sit together with 10 other heads of states and governments. As late as the preceding week, the Summit still hanged in the balance. But we in the Philippine Mission were obsessed, almost possessed that we will have a Security Council Summit. This was our cutting edge.

I am also proud to say that the Filipino diplomat is as good, if not better, than any other diplomat, given a level playing field. Of course, a diplomat’s role in the international community is determined to a significant extent by the length and the depth of the shadow cast by his country. The challenge for the diplomat is to cast his own shadow and fill in the gaps in the national milieu.

Negotiations lie at the heart of diplomacy and there are valuable lessons to be learned. The first lesson is to be prepared. This means knowing not only yourself, your strength and your weaknesses, but also those of the other side. This means also that you must have the patience of Job. Diplomacy is not an event, it is a process that has to be nurtured. Being prepared enables you to hit the ground running and ready to drive the road to excellence.

The second lesson is to establish bonds among your peers. This may take months, even years. Today everybody looks at the world from different points of view. Today’s challenges admit of no magic wand—no one solution fits all problems. Those bonds you establish could well be the strongest link in your diplomatic arsenal.  One cannot be successful without being persuasive and one cannot be persuasive if nobody likes you.

The third lesson is to treat diplomacy as an art—you must learn to give a little to get a little. The challenge is to know when to cross that threshold of giving and getting. Oftentimes, it is necessary to let the other side have your own way.

In negotiations, it also pays to have a sense of humor, once in a while.  Humor sells ideas, it relaxes, it deflects criticism and it bonds. I remember the impasse we were in when negotiating Resolution 1546. Nobody was prepared to give in so I invited their attention to a fact of life: A man who gives in when he knows he’s wrong is an honest man. A man who gives in when he is not sure he is wrong is a wise man. But a man who gives in even though he knows he is right is a married man. That broke the tense atmosphere and thereafter we had a resolution adopted unanimously.

I am privileged to receive this TOFIL trophy with Mr. Ben Farrales and Dr. Adolfo Bellosillo. Fashion, arts and culture have vital roles to play in this troubled world. They celebrate beauty, they bring happiness, they celebrate humanity itself. And we need a strong heart to meet today’s challenges. We need an understanding heart to reach out and make a difference.

I receive this great honor for my family and my professional family in grateful acknowledgement of their support and guidance. I am proud to be part of TOFIL family.

I accept this great honor in celebration of the values that have guided me in life—time honored Filipino values that underline the Philippine Jaycees Senate, and Insular Life, and The Philippine Star —faith in God, the continuing search for peace and rule of law, commitment to public welfare and national development and the promotion of the dignity of life.  I truly believe this is what this TOFIL trophy is all about.

Muli, marami pong salamat, maligayang pasko at manigong bagong taon. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! END
 

/bjg