The following is the author’s introduction to
his book, A Pathway to Diplomacy,
which has recently been published by the UST Publishing House. Copies are now available at selected branches of National Book Store and Powerbooks. They may also be directly obtained from:
The UST Publishing House
The UST Publishing House
Beato Angelico Bldg.
University of Santo
Tomas, Manila
PHILIPPINES
PHILIPPINES
There
is no single pathway to diplomacy. In
the Philippines, as in many other parts of the world, one who wishes to pursue
a diplomatic career is not required to arrive at his destination via a standard (much less, an obligatory) route. There are, rather, many possible roads he can
take to reach his goal. In fact, he can
even create his own path to diplomacy.
For
one, an aspiring diplomat is not required to earn a specific university degree in order to qualify for the annual
Foreign Service Officers’ Examination (or FSO Exam). Unlike the bar and board exams, which can
only be taken by those in possession of a specific university degree, the FSO Exam can be taken by anyone---regardless of his university
degree---as long as he fulfills all the other non-academic requirements for the
exam. Having a degree in foreign service
or in international relations can, of course, be an advantage; but it is
definitely not a must. Any university
degree will do. What matters is that the
aspirant can show, through his performance in the FSO Exam, that he has the
intellectual, emotional, psychological, moral and practical ability to
represent his country abroad, and to advance his country’s interests in
bilateral, regional and international fora.
It
should hardly come as a surprise, therefore, that career diplomats literally
come in all shapes and sizes. The
Philippine foreign service, for example, is made up of men and women with the
most diverse academic and professional backgrounds imaginable. Its corps of officers consists of erstwhile
academicians, journalists, writers, lawyers, certified public accountants,
bankers, economists, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, social
workers, military officers, architects, engineers, schooled musicians, priests,
philosophers and poets, to name but a few.
There is probably no other field in both the public and the private
sectors that can equally pride itself with the immense diversity of its
talents.
But
this vast multiplicity of talents is not the only consequence of the foreign
service’s “openness” as far as academic and professional backgrounds are
concerned. The other is that, since the
FSO Exam does not require of the aspirant a prior
education or training in diplomacy, a career diplomat literally has to
learn the ropes of his profession as he
goes along. He acquires his craft
not before he sets about his work,
but while doing it. He is, in the truest sense, trained to be a
diplomat on-the-job. He is, of course, given a formal training in
diplomacy at the start of his career.
After passing the FSO Exam, he is made to undergo what is called in the
Department’s parlance the “cadetship program,” wherein he will be trained in diplomacy
from its most rudimentary skills to its most profound theories. But his education as a diplomat does not end
there. In fact, it can be said that his
real education in diplomacy begins when he steps out of the Department’s
Foreign Service Institute (where the cadetship program is held) and joins one
of the Department’s various offices.
My
own on-the-job training as a diplomat started at the Office of the
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, where I was assigned shortly after
finishing the cadetship program in mid-2000.
It swung into high gear during the six and a half years that I spent in
Rome as Third Secretary and Vice Consul, and later, as Second Secretary and
Consul of our Embassy to the Italian Republic.
The
Philippine Embassy in Rome (Rome PE) is not an easy assignment. Italy has one of the largest Filipino
communities in the whole of Europe. In
addition, the city of Rome hosts the
headquarters of several U.N. bodies and other international organizations.
Serving as an Alternate Representative to these international organizations is
part of the functions of a Filipino diplomat assigned in Rome, over and above
his usual bilateral diplomatic tasks.
Fortunately, I enjoyed a peculiar
advantage during my posting there: for the greater part of my sojourn in Rome, I was a single man
who had all the time to myself the moment I got home. Unencumbered by the responsibilities that go
with having a wife and children, I had more than enough opportunity to reflect
on and write about the things I experienced and about the issues that engaged
my mind during my stay there. The essays in this collection were the fruits of
those solitary hours. They were written
between 2005 to 2008, on weekends when I did not have to leave the house to
attend a community affair or take care of an urgent assistance-to-nationals
(ATN) case. Naturally, the themes and
topics of these essays reflect my interests and preoccupations at that
time: the theory and practice of
diplomacy; the lives and ideas of the leaders and thinkers who had, in one way
or another, shaped my own life and thoughts; art and literature; and an
assortment of subjects that I tried to understand better by putting my thoughts
on paper.
Yet,
varied as their themes and topics may be, a common thread actually runs through
these essays: They constitute a written
record of the insights I came upon and the lessons I learned in the course of
my first foreign posting as a fledgling diplomat. They are, as it were, the jottings I wrote
down on my maiden voyage in the challenging but exciting world of
diplomacy.
They
say that our first experience in any area of life exerts a lasting impact upon
us. In fact, it usually sets the tone
and shapes the character of our subsequent engagements in that particular sphere. My maiden posting in Rome has taught me
lessons and given me insights which, I am sure, will continue to stand me in
good stead in the years ahead. If other
diplomats can find something useful for themselves among the varied thoughts
that these essays contain, then writing them shall have been worth it many
times over.
But the publication of this book was
inspired not only by the desire to share with my colleagues in the foreign
service the lessons and insights I gained during my first posting in Rome. It
was also stirred by the desire to offer something useful to the thousands of
young men and women who dream of becoming career diplomats someday. There are a
lot of highly romanticized ideas about diplomacy and the diplomatic life that are
floating around in university campuses, and many young people have been
attracted to the foreign service largely on account of these glamorized notions
of the diplomatic career. Unfortunately, the actual work and lifestyle of the
diplomatic profession do not exactly match their idealized
representations. The essays in this book
can help aspiring diplomats acquire a more realistic picture of what they would
be getting into, should they decide to join the diplomatic service.
Diplomacy
is by no means an easy calling. But, as
I hope these essays will reveal, it is definitely one of the most fitting
vocations for anyone who genuinely wishes to serve his country and, in some
way, make a difference in our world.
