4 May 2019

OF LAW AND POLITICS

RODOLFO SEVERINO, JR IN PEKING

Jaime S. Bautista

With the passage of time, Ambassador Rodolfo Severino, Jr. will surely become a legend in the Department of Foreign Affairs.  Already, he has been acclaimed as a patriot, an outstanding diplomat and a prolific writer.

I will not touch on Rod Severino’s well- known aspects of his diplomatic career and will limit myself to my fond memories of him at the Ateneo and when I was posted in Peking.

 Rod Severino was one of the gems of Ateneo de Manila’s High School Class of 1952.  High School ‘52 is reputed to be one of the finest graduating classes of the Ateneo, second only to the graduating class of Fr. Horatio de la Costa, Leon Ma. Guerrero and Jesus Paredes.

Rod Severino was handpicked to be the Ambassador’s right hand on policy matters when the Philippines opened its Embassy in Peking.

The Embassy’s staff was carefully selected, given the importance of China as a permanent member of the Security Council.  Initially the strategic foreign policy plan was to open diplomatic relations simultaneously with China and the Soviet Union.  But the Philippines established diplomatic relations first with China, and later with the Soviet Union because China was the sleeping giant in our neighborhood.

The Embassy’s staff was impressive and included the former Editor-in- Chief of the Manila Times, Juan Luna Castro.  This is not surprising because the Ambassador was the First Lady’s brother.  The Manila Times was the leading newspaper in the Philippines when the newspapers were closed by Martial Law.

Rod Severino was chosen because of his strategic thinking and his proven diplomatic skills, aside from his Jesuit training at the Ateneo and his post graduate degree in international studies from John Hopkins University.  He had previous experience working in Laos before he joined the DFA by topping the Foreign Affairs Examination. And he was endowed with exemplary communication skills.

Rod Severino had a broad vision of geo-politics at a time when the mindset at DFA was distrustful of Communist diplomats.  The DFA had just lifted the prohibition in Philippine passports, forbidding travel to communist countries.  Rod Severino developed warm relations with diplomats from the Soviet Union and the Second World.  My first experience in meeting Russian diplomats was upon the invitation of Minister Counselor Severino to join him at cocktails at the residence of his Soviet counterpart. 

 I also recall that Rod Severino chose to send his son, Kokoy Severino, to study at the local Chinese school instead of at the Embassy schools established by the Pakistani or the Indian Embassy.  He took note that the local Chinese schools dedicated for the admission of children of foreign diplomats were also designed as China’s show window to the world.  Thus, Kokoy had the benefit of studying Chinese and learning algebra in Chinese.

Severino had both writing and speaking skills.  One of my indelible memories of my tour of duty in China was the dinner at the Embassy for the Philippine agricultural delegation, which included Luis Taruc.  I was amazed at how Severino responded to the oratory of Taruc and several others in the language of Balagtas.  Severino was not to be outdone.  Pasikatan sila in Tagalog. 

Severino stayed on in Peking when Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez departed for another ambassadorial assignment and Narciso G. Reyes became our second Ambassador to China.  Upon the appointment of Severino as our first Consul General in Houston, Ambassador Narciso G. Reyes lauded Severino’s talents, saying he could see Severino following in his footsteps.  This comment was an honor in itself.

Indeed, this happened when Severino was elected as ASEAN Secretary General.  His stint at the Philippine Embassy in Peking was a precursor of his brilliant career that followed.

24 April 2019