Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines Thursday welcomed the planned nomination of former Philippine cabinet minister Silvestre Bello III as the new head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the country’s de facto embassy in Taiwan.
The planned nomination of Bello, a 78-year-old lawyer who served as labor and employment secretary in 2016 under former President Rodrigo Duterte, was made by new Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on June 23.
Asked about the incoming MECO boss, Michael Hsu (???), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, told CNA that Bello had close relations with the country’s executive and extensive experience in politics and public service.
As secretary of labor, Bello previously visited Taiwan in 2019 for a round of labor affairs meetings between the two countries, he added.
Currently, the Philippines has around 150,000 migrant workers in Taiwan, making the country the third-largest source of migrant workers to Taiwan, following Indonesia and Vietnam.
“Bello’s nomination is a perfect choice for MECO chair,” Hsu said, adding that he is looking forward to working closely with Bello to enhance bilateral ties.
“I believe he is the MECO chair with the highest public profile, having previously served as a department secretary,” Hsu said, adding that the previous highest level ex-MECO chairs were deputy ministers or deputy secretaries.
Bello will be replacing incumbent Wilfredo B. Fernandez as the head of MECO, which acts as a de facto embassy and representative office of the Philippines in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations.
Bello has been in politics since 1986 and served as Governor of Isabela Province from April 1986 until February 1988.
He later served in several cabinet positions, including as justice secretary from July 1991 to February 1992 under former President Cory Aquino; and then again as acting justice secretary under former President Fidel Ramos from February 1998 to June 1998.
From 2004 until 2010, he served as cabinet secretary of the Philippines under former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) welcomed Bello’s nomination. The official nomination was expected to be announced some time after Marcos Jr.’s inauguration, said MOFA deputy spokesperson Tsuei Ching-lin (???)
Marcos Jr. was set to be inaugurated as the 17th president of the Philippines at around noon on Thursday at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila, after clinching a landslide victory in the 2022 Philippine presidential election on May 9.
The 64-year-old politician, who served as a senator from 2010 to 2016, is the second child and only son of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos.
Tsuei said Thursday said that Taiwan found it “regrettable” that it was not invited to attend the inauguration of Marcos Jr.
Despite the lack of an invite, Tsuei said Taiwan’s representative office in Manila had already successfully passed on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (???) congratulations to Marcos Jr.
According to the spokesman, Taiwan’s representative office has learned through various channels from Manila — which does not formally recognize Taipei and instead maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing — that it decided not to invite Taiwanese government representatives to the ceremony “after taking consideration of all factors involved.”
During the 2010 inauguration of ex-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, Taiwan’s former Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (???) attended the ceremony in a personal capacity and passed on a congratulatory message from then-President Ma Ying-jeou (???).
This marked the last time that a former or serving Taiwanese government official attended the inauguration of a Philippine president.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel