Three DFA officials secure CA nod

The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday confirmed the nomination and appointment of three officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco Leslie Junio Baja, Ambassador to Lebanon Raymond Reyes Balatbat, and Foreign Service Officer Leandro Luiz Soliven Manantan all received the approval of the bicameral body.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, in endorsing the two nominees and one appointee, mentioned that Baja entered the Foreign Service in 1986 and has been active in diplomatic missions to Egypt, Berlin, Germany, Athens, Greece, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Baja was able to assist 10,000 Filipinos during his tenure as Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt from August to September 2018, the senator said.

"Ambassador Baja also aided in establishing the Philippine presence in Ethiopia for his significant role in the establishment of the honorary consulate of the Philippines in Addis Ababa. In 2013, he worked on the passage of the Compensation Act for Human Rights Victims as the Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein," he added.

During the CA committee on foreign affairs hearing, Baja said the African countries have a "very kind understanding" of the human rights situation in the Philippines after Senator Francis Tolentino raised the recent report of the International Criminal Court on the Duterte administration's drug war.

Balatbat, on the other hand, entered the Foreign Service in 1997 and held key roles at the Philippine Embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia; Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and Brunei Darussalam.

The first-time ambassador was a former legislative researcher and writer, and a budget analyst at the Senate Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office from 1992 to 1993, according to Lacson.—AOL, GMA News