Aquino asked to withdraw nomination of PHL envoy to China

Senator Sergio Osmeña III on Tuesday asked President Benigno Aquino III to withdraw the nomination of Domingo Lee as the Philippine ambassador to China, saying he was not fit to hold the position. "I am appealing to the President to withdraw his nomination because it's not fair to the Filipino people. It looks like personal friendships has overridden the national interest here and I think this is going a bit to far and with all due respect, I hope that Pres. Noynoy withdraws his nomination," Osmeña told reporters in an ambush interview on Wednesday. He made the request after the Commission on Appointment (CA) committee on foreign affairs on Tuesday deferred from recommending the confirmation of Lee, a close friend of the Aquino family, as the Philippine ambassador to China. The panel made the deferment after Lee failed to answer several questions posed by Osmeña. Not a career diplomat Osmeña initially quizzed Lee about diplomacy and foreign issues after learning that the nominee was not a career diplomat and was just appointed by the President directly to the post. "Why do you feel Domingo Lee would be better than career [officials], or other ambassadors who have been working for so long?" Osmeña asked Lee during Wednesday's CA hearing. Lee said that Aquino trusts him and knows his experience. He likewise said that he was "friends" with high-ranking Chinese officials. Osmeña, however, was not satisfied. "I have no doubt he trusts your honesty, your integrity. What I'm trying to determine is the level of your competence, experience that you bring to public office, that you bring to the position of ambassadorship to Beijing," he said. "There are others who will be able to serve more ably in that position given their long and vast experience and training in the field of diplomacy," Osmeña added. The senator was even more miffed after Lee failed to answer questions regarding the Spratlys dispute and other issues that the Philippines has with China. "Mukhang di mo kaya ito, palaging may nagbibigay sa iyo ng kodigo at binabasa mo," he said. Not perfect Lee, for his part, said that he was not perfect and that nobody was. "I'm doing my best," he said, to which Osmeña answered: "[If] thats your best, I'll be very scared to send you to Beijing. You don't know what's happening and you don't seem interested in what's happening," he said. "You have not proven any particular field of competence in the area of diplomacy, nothing, except that you fixed [the situation of] some overstaying Filipinos in Taiwan. Those are certainly not to me and probably to most of the members of the committee qualifications for you to be appointed to Beijing which in our minds would be the most critical diplomatic post in the next 10 to 20 years," he added. Lee, meanwhile, said he would step down on his own if he fails to do good while in office. Osmeña said he intends to ask questions regarding the 1992 UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the next hearing. Both China and the Philippines are claimants in the disputed Spratlys, a chain of islands and islets believed to be rich in oil and minerals deposits. The other claimants include Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei. Earlier in the day, the CA panel recommended for confirmation were foreign service officials Nestor Padalhin (chief of mission, class I), Marlowe Miranda (foreign service officer, class I), Lenna Elleen De Dios-Sion (foreign service officer, class II), Sharon Rivera (foreign service officer, class II), and Robert Eric Borje (foreign service officer, class II). - VVP, GMA News