LEAKIPEDIA | OFWs wait while a political VIP gets chauffeured

Philippine embassy officials abroad generally do not mind the inconvenience that comes with attending to visiting Cabinet secretaries, senators, and other high-ranking officials within their areas of responsibility.

After all, representing the country and facilitating official engagements are very much part of the job.

But according to highly placed sources who spoke to THEPHILBIZNEWS, one particular official has acquired a reputation among some embassy personnel for treating diplomatic staff less like public servants and more like personal attendants.

For purposes of this story, let us call her QOB — Queen of Bully.

Unlike state visitors traveling on official diplomatic missions, QOB reportedly uses an ordinary passport while making extensive logistical demands on embassy personnel, from transportation arrangements to schedule adjustments and other requests that consume significant time and manpower.

According to embassy personnel familiar with the matter, the trips had little to do with diplomacy and much to do with what some jokingly described as an ongoing “preservation and reconstruction project” — the sort that allegedly requires periodic maintenance, careful attention, and substantial logistical support.

Moreover, according to insiders, while traveling under a regular passport, QOB allegedly also requested the visited country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to endorse her for “priority security and immigration lane access.”

In other words, ordinary travel privileges somehow required extraordinary government intervention.

For career diplomats, this creates an uncomfortable contradiction.

One set of rules applies to ordinary Filipinos who patiently queue at immigration counters. Another appears to be reserved for those who believe titles should continue opening doors long after official business has ended.

Privately, some embassy officials say they do not mind hard work. What they mind is being diverted away from the people who genuinely need their help.

Every embassy vehicle unnecessarily assigned is a vehicle unavailable for legitimate consular work. Every staff hour spent accommodating personal preferences is a staff hour not spent assisting an abused domestic worker, a stranded tourist, a hospitalized Filipino, or an overseas Filipino worker seeking urgent government assistance.

For many diplomats stationed overseas, this is the source of the frustration.

Embassies are not luxury concierge desks. They are frontline institutions that protect millions of Filipinos living and working abroad. Their primary clients are not politicians passing through for personal errands, but the overseas Filipino workers we proudly call our modern-day heroes.

Yet, according to embassy insiders, diplomatic staff continue to do what they have always done.

They smile. They remain professional. They comply with protocol. Not because they agree, but because service to the Republic sometimes requires extraordinary patience.

Still, many quietly remind themselves of one enduring truth.

Power is temporary. Titles expire. Influence fades. But the mission of the embassy remains the same: to serve Filipinos first.

The Republic, after all, was never meant to become anyone’s personal assistant.