Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte wants diplomats to study more about their host countries and determine the best practices that are applicable in the Philippines.
Philippine ambassadors and other foreign service personnel should work not only on attending to the concerns of migrant workers but also on checking out the most suitable and effective professional and commercial practices in their host countries that can be adapted to the Philippine setting.
Villafuerte made this suggestion during the recent hearing by the Commission on Appointments’ foreign affairs committee on the posting of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Kira Christianne Danganan-Azucena as ambassador to New Zealand.
Villafuerte noted at the committee hearing that whenever an ambassador is appointed, most of the issues that he or she has to deal with in the host country involve the concerns of migrant Filipino workers.
“But basically I would like to suggest and request the ambassador that once you are deployed to New Zealand, always find out the best practices of that country and find out whether these can be adapted or practiced here (Philippines),” he said.
The CA en banc later on confirmed Danganan-Azucena’s appointment as ambassador to New Zeland with concurrent jurisdiction over the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Villafuerte pointed out at the committee hearing that two of the fields where New Zealand has excelled in and whose best practices can possibly be explored and applied in the Philippines are dairy production and adventure tourism. Maricel V. Cruz
The former governor said that a top export product of New Zealand, for example, is concentrated cream milk, which the Philippines imports.