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“Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”Winston churchill
Words are the best arsenal of a diplomat. Diplomacy implies tact, and tact means knowing when to speak, how and what to say without compromising the position of your country. Diplomats are summoned so that States reach peaceful destinations, with agreements that can be signed in front of History and the World. Violence does not have a chair in the room of an experienced diplomat.
Seeing a Filipino diplomat on video hitting her maid without provocation is destabilizing to the senses. What? Wait? Did she do that? And then the video is played again and shared, multiple times, on social media. The ambassador involved has kept silent. I understand that she has already consulted an attorney and is preparing for her trip home in accordance with the withdrawal order issued by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
His record, based on the embassy’s website, shows that he had risen through the ranks slowly and quietly. The Philippine Ambassador to Brazil, Marichu Mauro, has been in the Foreign Service since 1995. She was assigned to the Economic Diplomacy Unit until 1996, when she was appointed Acting Director of the Office of African and Middle East Affairs. In 1997, Ambassador Mauro was appointed as Third Secretary at the Philippine Embassy in Manama, Bahrain and then as Second Secretary and Consul at the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel from 2001 to 2003.
In 2006, Ambassador Mauro was appointed as First Secretary and Consul in the Philippine Embassy in Belgium and Luxembourg, and as Mission of the Philippines to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium and later as Minister of Career and Consul General. In 2014, Ambassador Mauro was appointed as Consul General of the Consulate General of the Philippines in Milan, Italy. This was the first time that Ambassador Mauro was awarded a post as Postmaster. During her tenure as Consul General, Ambassador Mauro oversaw the needs of more than 150,000 Filipinos living and working in Milan and northern Italy.
Ambassador Mauro presented her credentials to the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, His Excellency Michel Temer, on April 25, 2018 at the Planalto Palace. The news video that came out in Brazil and other parts of Europe would make it difficult for you to return to that same Post unless there is substantial evidence that the incriminating video was fabricated.
The only defense that Ambassador Mauro can rely on is that the video was false. Was not she. Someone maliciously edited and spliced the video to make it look like she had a violent disposition. Other than that, there can be no excuse for harming anyone, especially someone in your charge. That the video involves various acts of physical abuse and intimidation committed against a domestic worker makes the matter extremely worse. Because how can a Filipino diplomat speak on behalf of our domestic workers abroad, when her own domestic staff has been mistreated all this time?
Ah, but the good ambassador deserves to be heard. You have the right to due process, which I am sure the department will make sure it is obtained. Perhaps the video leak is also a security bug that requires further investigation. It is not uncommon for subordinates to find ways to reveal the “truth” about an unpleasant boss, out of revenge or spite. The video revealed oppression in its vilest form by a person of authority. He didn’t need narration.
His former boss, who has since retired from the DFA, Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, expressed surprise at the incident.
In his text message to journalist Roy Mabasa from Manila NewsletterSeguis said: “I know her personally because she worked with me in the Undersecretariat for Special Affairs as Vice President of the Foreign Voters Secretariat of the DFA and, in that position, she demonstrated professionalism and competence in the assigned tasks. He spoke softly and got angry slowly. “
I would be interested to know the following facts. Who had the passport of the domestic worker? Was I entitled to the mandatory days off? Is there a contract between the ambassador and the domestic worker and where is this contract located? Was there also verbal abuse and other forms of physical intimidation and harassment in addition to what was shown in those videos? Was the domestic worker able to move freely and maintain contact with her family? For these facts to be established, the testimony of the domestic worker is key.
If the video is fake and the ambassador has never raised a finger against her maid, then a popular Czech proverb comes to mind: “The moon doesn’t care if the dog barks at it.” The good ambassador, with her strong credentials, just needs to prove that the video was fake. And that she had never made her housekeeper shed a tear. Always.
Let this be a lesson for all of our diplomats. Treat your workers and staff well. Arrogance has no place in the chancellery and especially in their homes. When you are destined abroad, you are the flag. You are us.
Susan V. Ople directs the Blas F. Ople Training Institute and Policy Center, a non-profit organization that deals with labor and immigration issues. He also represents the OFW sector in the Interagency Council against Human Trafficking.
