POLITICAL AMBASSADORS

SLEEPLESS IN MY SHUTTLE. Just a thought while in transit. The appointment of "political ambassadors" has been a practice by most if not all presidents. This power has been abused by our heads of state to accomodate rich friends and discredited officials to the disgrace of the country and the demoralization of career officers of the diplomatic service. Of course, there are a few exceptions, like the late great diplomat Ambassador JV Cruz and a handful of others.

But in most cases, when political leaders want to boot out unfit or disgraced partymates, the inevitable solution is to send them into "exile" as ambassadors.

Once abroad, these misfits, lacking proper training and preparation, make jackasses of themselves and make the country a laughing stock in diplomatic circles.

As it is, an ambassador could be a person who, having failed to get an appointment from the head of state, is still given one on condition that he leaves the country immediately.

(Image from http://cdn.wn.com/)

DROP-OUTS BUT NOT PUSH-OVERS

Let me share this with you. There was a time when the late presidential spokesman, literary guru and newspaper columnist Adrian E. Cristobal Sr. got angry at motor-mouth Manoling Morato for pontificating that college drop-outs like Joseph Estrada were not qualified to run for president. Mr. Cristobal claimed Mr. Morato insulted millions of drop-outs in the country.

And this group includes Adrian himself, Blas Ople, Kit Tatad and JV Cruz, them all being superior intellectuals, poets, writers and speechwriters, eloquent speakers and wordsmiths.

The Constitution, which stipulates the candidates' age and birth limits, does not require university degrees or a minimum I.Q., he said.

One of the country's greatest presidents, Ramon Magsaysay, never finished college as well.

The country's biggest cheats and crooks today have offices adorned with framed diplomas and doctorates, including those from Harvard, Yale, Stanford - and yes, Georgetown. Look where they have brought this country to.

And now that Estrada could be seeking a second term, will Morato be whining again like a blooming Banshee?

(Image from http://www.asiaobserver.com/)

REMEMBERING JV CRUZ

Among my father's many good friends is a gentleman and a gentle man who stands out in the company of the likes of Blas Ople, Kokoy Romualdez, Adrian Cristobal, Chitang Nakpil and several others whose names escape my memory for now. He is the late great JV Cruz, former Press Secretary and Ambassador to England. In 1990, to the delight of my father, Ambassador Cruz finally returned to Manila from London where he had been in self-exile since the EDSA Revolt of '86. JV has been described by legions as the best press secretary our country ever had. His record to this day is still one that has yet to be surpassed or even equalled. He served under President Ramon Magsaysay along with other glamor boys like Raul Manglapus, Maning Pelaez, Terry Adevoso, Jimmy Ferrer and Manny Manahan. And I'm absolutely certain that his colleagues in the diplomatic community had everything good to say about him as a Filipino diplomat.

Coming back in 1990, JV received tempting offers from many newspapers and radio-TV stations, and whoever got him surely had prime cut and hit the jackpot. One of the oft-repeated stories about Ambassador Cruz was when he was press secretary - about an incident involving him and a Manila Chronicle reporter who was lambasting Magasaysay every single day. JV pulled the reporter into an empty room one day and yelled: "I have already helped you financially, introduced you to charming women, treated you out to the best restaurants with good food and fine wine and begged you to be fair to Magsaysay, but you refuse to budge! So, let's settle this in a fistfight. If you win, I will no longer bother you, but if I win over you, give Monching (Magsaysay) a fair shake."

The two did have a fistfight. Both declared it a draw after inflicting bruises and contusions on each other. They became the best of friends after that.

Accompanying my father to JV's wake some years back, I noticed a coffee mug resting on a table near his reading glasses and his trusty typewriter, with a scotch glass and a half-emptied bottle of the finest scotch whiskey, where his friends would toast the man and take a farewell shot, just next to his casket. The mug bore an inscription which read, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Many fine stories about JV Cruz are embedded in the hearts of his many friends who still miss him to this day, for indeed, how can anyone really ever forget a good man?

Portrait by the great Alcuaz, courtesy of Edvee Cruz.