ME AND MY MANGOES

I love mangoes and I think it would be difficult to find another Filipino who does not like this fruit. While we may have taken this product for granted as just one of our national treasures, there is a huge problem that now faces the industry that grows and exports it. In a consultation meeting that I had with some of this industry’s leaders, I have come to realize how much has yet to be done in order to support the people who depend on this crop for their livelihood and survival.

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According to industry estimates, there are about a million people who are growing this fruit, not to mention their dependents that could bring up the total to about five million more or less. Of course, that figure does not include the number of people who are also able to gain livelihood from the trading and transporting of this commodity.

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As relayed to me by the industry leaders, the People’s Republic of China has warned that they are going to ban the importation of mangoes into that country, not unless the Philippines would comply with their insect control standards. A representative of the Chinese government is reportedly coming soon in order to press for our compliance with these standards. As a result of this threat, the industry has sought the assistance of the government, and judging from what I have heard so far, it seems to lacking in its actions.

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I remember that a few years back, “development diplomacy” was a popular buzzword in the Foreign Service, but it seems to me now that this approach has either been forgotten, or it is simply being ignored. Not that I would enjoy having the last word as far as this issue is concerned, but I recall that I had serious reservations about the adoption of the “country team” approach in development diplomacy, and now there are indications that I might have been right all along.

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Simply put, the “country team approach” recognizes the Ambassador as the head of the “country team” in a diplomatic post abroad, including all the consular posts under it. In a way, this approach merely restates what is already obvious, but it seems that this reality has to be restated, in order to emphasize the advocacy that all the Attaches assigned to the Embassy and the consulates under it should also report to him or her, as far as the economic diplomacy program is concerned.

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According to the traditional diplomatic practice, Attaches are supposed to function as “advisers” to the Ambassador, meaning to say that in theory, they are not supposed to perform any line function within an Embassy. As it has evolved in the Philippine diplomatic practice however, Attaches have become more like “tenants” in a diplomatic or consular post, holding office there, but are actually still reporting to, and taking orders from their own “home offices” back in the Philippines, meaning their own cabinet Secretaries. Also according to traditional diplomatic practice, there are supposed to be no Attaches assigned to the consulates, simply because it is a diplomatic rank, and not a consular rank.

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In order for the “country team” approach to work properly, I think that the personality of Attaches should be completely changed, from that of “tenants” into that of “seconded” officers to the Foreign Service, and in that new capacity, they should report only to their Chiefs of Mission, and no longer to their cabinet Secretaries back home. By implication, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should take the full and undivided responsibility for all “economic diplomacy” functions abroad, meaning that it should no longer share the blame or credit with any other agency in the event of success or failure in these functions, as the case may be.

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The challenge of getting mangoes into China despite the barriers set by that host country is a diplomatic problem that should be solved by the DFA in general and by the Philippine Embassy in Beijing in particular. Against all odds, it should be our diplomats there who should take the lead because they are the people on the ground. In other words, they should be the ones telling the bureaucracy back home what to do, each step of the way.

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For its part, the DFA should take the role of being the “home team” leader back here, telling all the other agencies involved here what to do, and leading them each step of the way. In this particular problem, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade & Industry could certainly help out, but the DFA should take the overall lead. The Congress should also step in, as this is a matter of national urgency.