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Foreign service officers should conduct their jobs
with "genuine sympathy, concern and respect" for overseas Filipino
workers, especially those engaged in humble but honest occupations,
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said yesterday.
"I demand that such ethical standards of conduct be built into the
parameters of job performance for all foreign service officers," he
said. Ople said he will "not hesitate to fire any ambassador,
consul or officer who is verified to have acted rudely and
overbearingly towards our expatriate countrymen anywhere in foreign
lands."
He called for the building of a world-class foreign service at a
strategic planning workshop for Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
officials at the Mimosa resort at Clark Field in Pampanga.
The workshop was designed to chart the direction of the department
and develop a framework for Philippine foreign policy in the next
ten years. Ople said that as foreign service officers,
Filipino diplomats should accept reality — the DFA has to look after
the safety and welfare of seven million Filipinos abroad,
representing nearly 10 percent of the country’s population.
"These Filipinos are generally hardworking, enterprising, and
law-abiding. They remit $7 to $8 million, which makes them our
most valuable source of foreign exchange earnings and a vital prop
to the economy especially in times of adversity," he said.
Ople added that some people "tend to look down on (overseas Filipino
workers) because many of them" are household helpers and caregivers.
"Such forms of condescension must be uprooted," he said. It is
the DFA’s mission to develop a world-class foreign service, whose
officers have the ability to relate, to help and protect Filipino
workers overseas.
"This mission surpasses the scope of traditional consular services,
but is a new paradigm by itself. If this goal requires a radical
culture change, or even a culture shock, for our posts abroad, so be
it," Ople said. It was Ople, as labor minister, who launched
the overseas employment program in 1974 to help relieve unemployment
in the country and enable the economy to earn badly needed foreign
exchange.
However, budget makers and lawmakers have not caught up with the
reality of DFA dealing with seven million Filipinos working and
living in 140 countries. While most pay lip service to OFWs, the
DFA’s share of the national budget is at a "pathetic" less than .05
percent, and "therefore in critical situations the ability of the
Philippine government to help these countrymen of ours is seriously
compromised," Ople said.
Meanwhile, Ople challenged DFA officials and staff to help President
Arroyo build a stronger republic through a more active agenda
ranging from economic and cultural diplomacy to a stronger
partnership with OFWs. One of the items on the agenda is the
DFA’s involvement in the President’s program to create jobs, improve
labor skills and facilitate the transfer of technology to make
industries more competitive.
Another point of focus is to built a better program to protect
Filipinos abroad, as well as address the hunger for culture,
history, and education among children of expatriate Filipinos.
Ople also plans to reform the passport service and the automate
various administrative processes to eliminate red tape and provide
better service. A Social Weather Stations survey recently
ranked Ople as the topnotcher among Cabinet members in terms of
public acceptance of their work. DFA vows better passport
service
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is set to launch a more
efficient and streamlined passport service by June 2003 with the
introduction of a machine readable passport which is expected to
eliminate all forms of passport fraud.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople admits that under the present
system, passport irregularities remain, a practice which stains the
good name of the Philippines in the international community.
"It is our aim to automate the various administrative processes in
the Department to eliminate red tape and improve our services to the
people," Ople said.
He disclosed that the new passport service, which is a
build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, is temporarily stalled by
disputes concerning fees which the DFA considers unreasonably high.
He expressed optimism though that the difficulty will soon be
resolved and said he is expecting the contractor and the DFA to
implement the new system starting June 2, 2003.
Once implemented, Ople believes that this will deal a death blow to
fraudulent passport syndicates and fixers deceiving unwary citizens
in the DFA premises." In the keynote address he delivered
before the opening of a strategic planning workshop for DFA
officials at Clark Field in Pampanga, Ople also said he would demand
that the conduct of foreign service officers in all foreign posts be
characterized by genuine sympathy, concern and respect for overseas
Filipino workers, especially those engaged in humble but honest
occupations.
"I demand that such ethical standards of conduct be built into the
parameters of job performance for all foreign service officers," he
stressed. Ople said that Filipino diplomats should accept the
reality of a radical paradigm shift in their responsibilities as the
department has now the responsibility to look after the safety and
welfare of seven million Filipinos abroad, reperesenting nearly 10
percent of our total population. "These Filipinos are
generally hardworking, enterprising and law-abiding. They
remit inward $7 to $8 billion a year which makes them our most
valuable source of foreign exchange earnings and a vital prop to the
economy
especially in times of adversity," he added.
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