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Sunday, July 13, 2008

New Beijing envoy Mercado seen to gain confirmation from appointments body

By Sammy Martin, Reporter

NEWLY appointed Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Orlando Mercado is expected to earn the nod of the Commission of Appointments (CA) due to his credentials, Rep. Eduardo Gullas, acting head of the House contin­gent to the CA, said on Saturday.

“Having been a former CA member himself when he was in the Senate, I am sure Senator Mer­cado will have no problem fulfilling the requirements of the confirmation process,” Gullas said.

Besides serving two terms in the Senate from 1987 to 1998, Mercado also served as Defense secretary during the Estrada administration. He tried to return to the Senate in 2004, but lost on his bid. He is now president of the state-owned Radio Philip­pines Network Inc.

“There is no question China is of enormous strategic value to us going forward, both as a potential source of incremental [foreign] direct investments, and as a rapidly growing huge market for [Philippine] merchandise exports and services. Our political, eco­nomic and people-to-people relations with China are definitely great. It is only fitting that we have an ambassador there of considerable stature and experience,” Gullas added.

He, however, refused to com­ment on speculations that Mercado would breeze through the confirmation process because Mercado has been a part of the CA.

“With respect to the House contingent, we decide collectively on every appointment after a fair hearing,” Gullas said in a press statement.

Malacañang recently named Mercado, 62, the new am­bassador to China, with con­current jurisdiction over North Korea and Mongolia.

Mercado’s appointment came not long after Manila and Beijing took the spotlight during the allegedly anomalous NBN-ZTE broadband network project.

The $330-million project, which was later aborted by Malacañang, would have been funded by a Chinese govern­ment loan. ZTE Corp., which is also partly owned by the Chinese government, would have in­stalled the network.

If Mercado gets confirmed, he would be the 16th new ambassador to be endorsed by the CA of the 14th Congress.

CA performance in this Congress shows that it has confirmed 15 ambassadors, 15 chiefs of mission, 19 career ministers and 14 foreign service officers, or a total of 63 officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs alone.