Photo Release

Confirmation hearing of Ambassador Baja: Asserting that in any posting abroad, the Philippine government must be able to justify its presence in other countries, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon inquires from Ambassador Leslie Baja the situation of overseas Filipino workers, volume of trade and political situation in Morocco. Baja said there are currently 4,600 Filipinos in Morocco, mostly in the household service sector. He also said that the Philippines’ trade with Morocco in the last two to three years have gone up and hopes to be able to expand trade with the ratification of the African Continental Grid Trade Area. “First, we would like to spread into the record that we have known Amb. Leslie Baja for quite a while, and we have known him to be a competent and a career diplomat, who has always stood for the interest of our country in his various assignments … in Switzerland for example, where it’s basically a multilateral assignment, and also in the other postings that he had,” Drilon said during the Committee on Foreign Affairs- Commission on Appointments confirmation hearing on the appointment of Baja as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Morocco, with concurrent jurisdiction over the Republic of Guinea, Republic of Mali, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and Republic of Senegal, Wednesday, December 16, 2020. (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB)