Purge of Philippine envoys seen

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario

The days of poor performing Filipino diplomats are numbered, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has warned, as he stressed the need for foreign service personnel in the home office and 94 missions abroad to “aim for excellence” and “be a yardstick of quality.”

Speaking before the Manila Overseas Press Club at a Makati City hotel, Del Rosario on Wednesday night said the Department of Foreign Affairs was now “known to have the best and the brightest” personnel and was the agency “that truly never sleeps.”

“The challenge is how to fully unleash their potential. We feel there are several ways to move forward, including by restoring morale in the department, upgrading the skills of its people, setting clearer objectives, placing a premium on results and performance-based evaluation, injecting meritocracy in the system, demanding a higher degree of professionalism, and replacing people who do not perform,” he said.  Jerry E. Esplanada