‘Sartorial elegance,’ refined PR win confirmation for PH envoy to US

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez Wednesday got the nod of the Commission on Appointments after being grilled for an hour on urgent issues, including extrajudicial killings, US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy and the country’s relations with the United States.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chair of the commission’s committee on foreign affairs, endorsed Romualdez’s nomination to the plenary following a brief executive session.

The plenary immediately gave its consent to his appointment since no member posed any objection.

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As Philippine ambassador to the United States, Romualdez also serves in concurrent capacity as the country’s representative to Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and Grenadines and Saint Lucia.

“You and I would agree that his sartorial elegance and refined public relations make for an effective bilateral relations with the US. This serves the country in good stead,” said Lacson in moving for the plenary’s approval of Romualdez’s appointment.

Romualdez, a newspaper columnist, will officially occupy a post that was vacant for more than a year after the retirement of former Central Bank Governor Jose Cuisia Jr. in June last year.

He was named to the post on July 27.