The charges filed against Philippine  ambassador to the United Arab  Emirates Grace Relucio Princesa have already been resolved “years ago,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified on Friday.

“It has been resolved years ago. I asked OPAS [Office for Personnel and Administrative Services] about it and they informed me that there was already a deal struck between the ambassador and the furniture manufacturer,” Raul Hernandez, Foreign Affairs spokesman, told The Manila Times.

It has the sole authority to assign DFA employees and handle complaints against them.

Hernandez also said that the alleged non-payment of furniture by Princesa was a “closed case” and that the agency has not received any further complaints against the ambassador.

He also clarified that contrary to a previous report, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario “never expressed” his concerns regarding the said “scandalous” allegations against Philippine envoys abroad.

Hernandez said that del Rosario denied talking with any department official regarding his supposed “concerns” about the complaints filed against Princesa and the sexual harassment charges against Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Shulan Primavera.

“I don’t know how [these groups and people] are using the media to do some harm to the ambassador. This is an old issue already,” he added.

Regarding the other complaints supposedly filed against Princesa by the Alliance of Concerned
Overseas Filipino Workers in Abu Dhabi (ACO-OFW), Hernandez said that the department has never received any letter of complaint from the group.

He also said that the group is not a registered Filipino worker organization in Abu Dhabi.

The group accused Princesa of using several events in the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi as sources of “graft and deception.”