These past years while Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, the career foreign service officers kept quiet about his boo-boos because one can’t separate him from the department and from the government. His embarrassing foul-ups were also their embarrassment.
In regional meeting, reporters covering the events wondered why the Philippines is represented by senior officials in morning ministerial meetings. It’s basic courtesy to other ministers that a country sends someone of the same rank in those meetings. But Romulo, even if he is in that event, wakes up late in the morning, he skips morning meetings.
A DFA source also said that the Philippines conducts few side bilateral meetings during Asean and APEC meetings because Romulo does not make himself available. “No foreign minister would agree to have a bilateral with a Philippine senior official,” said a foreign official, who asked not to be named for obvious reason. But for those trips, Romulo collects expensive per diem.