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P R E S S S T A T E M E N T |
STATEMENT
OF
THE
HONORABLE ALBERTO G. ROMULO
TO
THE PHILIPPINE FOREIGN SERVICE CORPS
ON
THE CURRENT NATIONAL POLITICAL ISSUES
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 14 JULY 2005
I would like to commend the Corps of Philippine Foreign Service Officers, Staff Officers and Staff Employees for responding with utmost professionalism and patriotism to my earlier call for the exercise of sobriety and democratic maturity in the face of the recent political events. I would also like to welcome the decision of a growing number of FSOs to disassociate the Foreign Service Officers Corps from the spurious emailed statements purporting to represent the views of the FSO Corps.
We are all civil servants committed to follow and defend the Constitution of the Philippines. And as we approach the commemoration of our Department’s 107th Founding Anniversary, let us call to mind the oath taken by Foreign Service Officers, Foreign Service Staff Officers and Foreign Service Staff Employees when each of you assumed your respective assignments:
“…na tutuparin ko nang buong husay at katapatan, sa abot ng aking kakayahan, ang mga tungkulin ng aking kasalukuyang katungkulan at ng mga iba pang maaari kong gagampanan sa ilalim ng Republika ng Pilipinas; na aking itataguyod at ipagtatangol ang Saligang-Batas ng Pilipinas; na tunay akong mananalig at tatalima rito; na susundin ko ang mga batas, mga kautusang legal, at mga dekretong pinaiiral ng mga sadyang itinakdang maykapangyarihan ng Republika ng Pilipinas; at kusa kong babalikatin ang pananagutang ito, ng walang anumang pasabali o hangaring umiwas.”Upholding this oath is what has kept the DFA’s institutional integrity as the prime promoter of the Foreign Policy of the Republic of the Philippines all these years.
As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I am privileged to have as colleagues a Foreign Service Corps that remains committed to serve the Philippine Constitution and the duly constituted authorities of the Nation.
The commitment and dedication of the Corps are challenged by several unsigned statements now circulating in the internet that convey personal comments on the current political debate. In response to these letters, I am pleased to note the signed statement issued yesterday by 54 Foreign Service Officers currently in the DFA Home Office, who questioned the intent of the so-called “Union of Filipino Foreign Service Officers” in using the corps of Foreign Service Officers to discredit the President of the Philippines. It would serve the interest of the Filipino People to heed the call of the 54 FSOs to “focus our efforts on the higher good and national interest” and to let the current issues be resolved through the Constitutional process and forum.
I also welcome the fact that more FSOs continue to sign this statement.
As
we all eagerly await the resolution of the current political issues confronting
our Nation, I enjoin the Foreign Service Corps to continue vigorously pursuing,
both at the Home Office and in the Foreign Service Posts, the promotion
of Philippine Foreign Policy particularly the interest of the Nation and
the Filipino People in the international community. END
/jay