Farewell to a Filipino diplomat

Soon after graduating from college, Ronell found himself rubbing elbows with several thousands of Filipino degree holders who were crowding human resource offices and filling up application forms for employment positions that were not enough to accommodate even one-fourth of the job seekers.

He remembers hopping from one company to another in the commercial district of Makati City only to receive one familiar statement from personnel managers that continue to hound Filipino job seekers until now: “We’ll call you.”

Some are desperate enough to wait a lifetime for the “call,” Ronell knew there was something in that statement which should drive him to keep moving to finally find the right job for him at the right company — soon.

It did not come served in a silver platter, though. Well, not until after several years of vigorous job hunting and office hopping, as well as some moments of giving up only to stand up again and search for that elusive “right job” in the end.

Ronell recalls surrendering to the fact that he was not ready for the hurly-burly of cosmopolitan life, after he failed to find a good job in the city. He worked as a volunteer inside the Vietnamese Refugee Center in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

After doing social work at the center, Ronell returned to their family store in Bulacan, a province north of Manila, where he had spent so many years of his childhood selling wooden clogs after school and on weekends.

He was not bound to really give up, though. When he realized it was time to put his degree in AB Philosophy into good use, Ronell took a teaching position in a Catholic school in Meycauayan, Bulacan where he dedicated his time instilling the value of education to the minds of his third and fourth year high school students.

However, more is expected to come for someone who finished college with the highest honors like Ronell who graduated Summa Cum Laude from the reputable Adamson University in Manila.

He decided to go back to school and pursue a master’s degree in Philippine studies from the country’s premier state post-secondary educational institution — the University of the Philippines that has produced hundreds of the nation’s prominent leaders and business tycoons.

While literally burning brows to earn his master’s degree, Ronell joined the Adamson University’s faculty for one year before jumping to teach Philippine literature at the U.P. Diliman campus.

Eleven years later, Ronell B. Santos assumed a new position that changed not only his name but his career path as well.

He was named Philippine Vice Consul to Saipan in 1997 after completing a battery of foreign service tests in the Philippines that include a cadetship program for diplomats, a six-month on-the-job training at the Department of Foreign Affairs regional office in Zamboanga and at the national office of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Manila in 1995.

Since then, kababayans call him Vice. “I never really thought I’d come as far as holding a position in a foreign post although I have always told myself there is only one direction to go and that is to move forward,” says Mr. Santos.

He still rubs elbows with people in long queues. But he no longer competes with them for a job position. This time, he is the one conducting the interview and processing the papers. He does not fill up forms anymore, he makes the people fill them up.

While the thought of being able to surpass some of life’s most difficult challenges could be fulfilling, Mr. Santos says he derives satisfaction from being able to help and reach out to his overseas kababayans who need assistance, and from being able to forge diplomatic relations with his foreign counterparts.

Even though he carries a title on his name, Mr. Santos personally entertains inquiries and window transactions at the Philippine Consulate office in Susupe which makes him a popular personality among Filipino contract workers in the CNMI.

His were hands that were always ready to help, ears that were prepared to listen, and the voice that was all set to speak for his countrymen.

“When you help someone in any big or small way, you don’t think that you do it because your job requires it but because it is something that you have always wanted to do and that it makes you complete,” he says.

Mr. Santos says he enjoys serving his kababayans in the Northern Marianas even in the smallest way like processing their passport renewals or providing them with a list of requirements for marriage.

He has been a familiar personality at various Filipino community activities and a popular face at the transaction windows of the Philippine Consulate.

But the time has come for him to move on. Mr. Santos will say goodbye to Saipan tomorrow for a new assignment in Athens, Greece following the completion of his three-year tour of duty in the CNMI.

While he admits to feeling sad leaving behind the friendship that has developed with kababayans during his stay on Saipan, Mr. Santos is not leaving with a heavy heart. He has completed his task and just like what he did in the past, he has completed it with flying colors. The 20,000 Filipinos in the Northern Marianas can attest to that.