Top Filipino diplomat tours world hotspots to rescue his people

New Philippines foreign minister, 74, heads to Middle East conflict zones to look after many thousands of Filipinos trapped by unrest.

MANILA // The uprisings in the Middle East have trapped thousands of overseas Filipino workers and tested the Philippines' new top diplomat.

Albert del Rosario, 74, has travelled to conflict zones from Libya to Yemen - once straying near a gun battle - to lead the rescue of hundreds of Filipinos.

His unorthodox hands-on style has impressed many and helped repair the lethargic image of this nation's bureaucracy. He recalls his missions with humour.

When his Libyan military escorts dived for cover because of fears that Nato jets were approaching Misurata last week, Mr del Rosario said many were impressed that he did not scamper away in panic.

"I was the slowest to move and people thought I was the bravest," he said. "Of course, bad knees," he said laughing, referring to knee surgery that forces him to walk slowly.

The former business executive inherits a department of foreign affairs that oversees the Philippines' often testy relationships with the US, its former coloniser, and China, which is a major economic partner but is often accused of bullying.

In March, two Chinese patrol boats allegedly harassed a Philippine oil exploration ship near the contested Spratly Islands, prompting a Filipino general to deploy two aircraft that arrived after the Chinese vessels had left. Both nations issued protests.

A concern is the 10 million or so Filipinos who work overseas, more than one in 10 of the Philippines' 94 million people. The money they send home fuels economic growth but many become trapped in conflicts or endure abuse.

The revolutions sweeping the Middle East have exposed tens of thousands of Filipinos to armed clashes.

Just days after he started his job in February, Mr del Rosario visited Libya, where he led a convoy of 400 Filipinos from the capital to Tunisia. On the way they passed through 25 checkpoints and near an area where gunfire erupted.

"It looked like a crossfire situation. You could hear automatic rifles," Mr del Rosario said. His convoy found another route.

In the past three months, he has travelled four times to Libya, twice each to Yemen and tsunami-ravaged Japan, and to Bahrain and Syria to rescue Filipinos, a foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Malaya, said. His example has energised other diplomats. "It's almost a culture shock," Mr Malaya said. "This has not only shaken the bureaucracy but inspired it."

Mr del Rosario, Manila's former ambassador to Washington, is not a stranger to violence. He was badly wounded in crossfire between Japanese occupying troops and American soldiers and guerrillas in Manila in the final months of the Second World War.