MALACAÑANG on Wednesday submitted to the Commission on Appointments nominations for former journalist Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana as the country’s Ambassador to China and current Foreign Affairs spokesperson Asec. Charles Jose as Ambassador to Malaysia.
Sta. Romana, Duterte’s political appointee, is an acknowledged China expert and veteran journalist who lived and worked in China for more than three decades.
He is the former Beijing bureau chief for ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting Company. He has covered China as a producer and reporter for ABC News from 1989 until his retirement in 2010.
As a foreign journalist, he witnessed the economic rise of China and its transformation from a Third World country into a major global power.
Jose previously served as Consul General in the Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai where he stayed from 2011 to 2014 and was assigned to key Asia posts like Beijing, Chongqing, and Shanghai in China, as well as Bangkok and Singapore.
Also nominated to key ambassadorial posts were: Former Makati Rep. Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin, Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Antonio Lagdameo, the United Kingdom; James Lao, Brunei Darussalam;
Jose Laurel, Japan; Philippe Lhuillier, Spain; Uriel Norman Garibay, Kenya; Alan Timbayan, Qatar; and Shirley Vicario, Nigeria.