The Young and Restless Comes Home, Stewards “A Second Home Away from Home”

Was once young and restless – could very aptly describe those years when he was trying to figure out what career to pursue. Not necessarily for what he could be best at because he excels at almost anything, but more importantly how best he could help his nuclear family.

Newly-installed Consul General Orontes V. Castro of Toronto spoke so warmly about his siblings and his parents, especially his father.  He informed that his father was a World War II veteran and continued his military service with the Philippine Constabulary. While a native of Batangas, Tarlac, and Pangasinan, according to him, their family enjoyed the privilege of living in the Officers’ Village of Camp Olivas in Pampanga where he was born. He had such fond memories of Camp Olivas as a closely-knit community of soldiers and their families. He relates that as a child, he would always look forward to family activities and special events for everyone in the village.

But as young as he was 8, ConGen Castro’s father retired from the service. He was third from the brood of 3 boys and 4 girls. The whole family had to leave Camp Olivas, share living quarters with maternal grandparents, and start a new life in Tondo, Manila. Yes, the rough and tough Tondo that homegrown Pinoys would have memories and/or impressions of.

Life is About Good Choices

Tondo might be tough but not necessarily rough from the point of view of ConGen Ron. He and his siblings actually survived Tondo.  Proverbially,  we know a place never defines a person or the future for that person. As the wise are wont to say, we all make our choices. And ConGen Ron undoubtedly made good choices in his life.

But making those choices was not necessarily fast and easy for the Consul General. Throughout college, ConGen was a Sycip, Gorres and Velayo (SG) scholar for an accounting program under the Bachelor of Science degree at the University of the East (UE). In the Philippines, SGV is such a well-respected and prestigious employer-institution for accounting and finance graduates and practitioners. But more than the prestige, what ConGen Ron needed at that time, he said, was to maintain the scholarship as he could not afford college education.

He burned midnight candles, so to speak, to be able to support himself via this scholarship and other grants. Scholarly though he was, “public service” first beckoned when he was made to run as president of the UE Student Council to represent the 25,000-strong population of accounting and business majors in the university. To him, the challenge of “going public” was not necessarily doing the work but defying his introvert personality. He was naturally shy and quiet, he remarked. But this he had to overcome to fight for significant issues facing the studentry, specifically the tuition fee hikes that students encountered all the time.  The student council under his leadership always managed to win some cuts in the hikes, he said.

Con Gen graduated cum laude from the university in 1987. Under the SGV scholarship program, 3 were summa cum laudes, 10 magna cum laudes and 28 of them, cum laudes.  Despite the 41 scholars graduating with honors, they still had to take an “entrance” exam to be able to get a job at SGV. It was like taking another board exam for CPAs (certified public accountants), he related. Sadly, two (2) of the scholars did not pass the exam.

In Constant Restless Pursuit

Expectedly, Con Gen proved to be a very competent employee at SGV. Soon, he was distinguished with what they call an SGV megastar distinction that culminates to a rank promotion. He became Staff-in Charge of Audit.  He worked for SGV for 2 years. While employed, he went through very intensive training where at one point, he was adjudged an outstanding performer and was being awarded a scholarship in the United States. So attractive though this was, this was at a point in time when he had decided to resign from SGV and pursue a law degree at San Beda College.

He never finished his law studies as it was interrupted, again, by his restlessness and continuing pursuit to better his economic situation as a major provider in their family. To help his family while enrolled as a law student, he taught accounting as a part-time instructor in the Philippine School of Business Administration (PSBA). The meager income though got him worried that he was not helping his family enough. So restlessly, he was always keeping his eyes open on other opportunities.

He almost became an OFW when he competed for and chose to work as an accounting manager in UAE. The lure of the bigger money working abroad proved attractive until somebody spoke to him about a similar opening at the then Philippine International Trade Corporation (PITC), the foreign trading arm of the Philippines. As someone close to his siblings and parents, he opted to work at PITC considering the pay difference was not much to that of UAE post.  Thus, at age 24, he became a Division Chief at this prestigious GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporation). All things being equal, he would rather be close to his family than live away from them.

With friends aware of his penchant for taking entrance or competitive exams and passing them, again he was told about the Civil Service Commission (CSC) conducting a Foreign Trade Officers’ Examination. He took that exam, passed it (the youngest to have made that) but failed to make it to the final cut. Another door opened for him in 1994. A friend from University of the Philippines (UP) tipped him about the Department of Foreign Affairs’ conduct of the Foreign Service Exam.

The Foreign Service Qualifying Exam

“I like taking entrance or qualifying examinations,” he declared.  And he would normally pass. The only parts that scared him then were the writing or the speaking, the essays or the oral interviews as he was really shy.  But it was different with the FS exam, he said.  The desire to pass the whole process was strong enough that he braved every step. Maybe this was what the young and the restless finally wanted.

He related that what really resonated with him in this exam announcement was the phrase “If you wish to see the world … “   Having  been a student who was so fascinated with history (actually awarded as historian in high school), the opportunity to travel and learn about other cultures proved really attractive.  The FS exam came to him by accident, or so he thought. But looking back now, he is in disbelief as to why a “competitor” friend would tell him about the FS exam when the fellow could have taken the exam by himself and eliminated him as competition. Then, we both figured that indeed some people are being used as instruments for our destiny to materialize.

Although he made it to the final cut (only 9 of them out of 15 who passed the “entrance”) of the foreign service successful examinees, he believes to this day that the very thorough and rigid training he got as a new recruit of DFA solidified his qualification to meet all the requirements and expectations of the job. Plus, he remembered the likes of elder Senator Jose Diokno, the SGV vice chairman Wilson Tan as lecturers, among others. Add to this training were his already excellent academic background and sterling performance at SGV and other jobs that followed. That was 1994, and he was only 27 at that time.

He remembers a few of his early assignments at DFA that enabled him to make use of his solid background in finance and accounting.  He was thankful that at that time, it was the Hon. Alberto Romulo who was the DFA Secretary. They sort of spoke the same language, so to speak, as Mr. Romulo was a CPA himself. Among the things that he worked on that time were: the reviews of the system of allowance of FS personnel, salary grades of DFA employees, and the approval of the DFA Provident Fund, among others.

Encountering Canada’s Winter

At 29 years old, he got his first foreign assignment as Third Secretary and Vice-Consul at the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon from 1996 to 2000. His boss was then appointed as the first consul of the newly formed embassy in Damascus and Syria, and he tapped him as his deputy. Before his four-year assignment was over, he was cross-posted to New York until he was formally installed as Vice-Consul then Consul at the Philippine Consulate General in New York from 2000 to 2003. Following that was as Consul then Deputy Consul General at the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, USA from 2007 to 2013.

When therefore, asked if the thought of being assigned in Toronto, Canada did not scare him of winter, he smiled. He related how he got used to the cold Decembers and beyond in his stint at Chicago, which is also known for its punishing winters. In reality, however, the Canadian tour of duty came as a surprise as things happened very fast. He said he was actually enjoying what he was doing in Manila as Chief Protocol Officer at the DFA. But nevertheless, he expressed how thankful he is to President Rodrigo R. Duterte and the current Secretary of DFA Teodoro Locsin, Jr. for their trust and confidence in assigning him to the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto. Shortly before to moving to Toronto, he just finished his MBA at the University of Sto. Tomas, with the distinction “Benemeritus” for his masteral thesis on “Philippine Labor Migration, Remittances, and Household Revenues of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).”

As a personal friend and close colleague, he himself was devastated by the demise of former ConGen Rose Prospero of Toronto. Being both single, they would often kid each other as to who is going to get hitched first between them. But getting hitched continues to be not within his immediate radar as he is happy supporting his nuclear family and even extended families. Being unattached makes him very mobile and handy in case of foreign assignments, as in the case of  this Toronto duty.

Three (3) months into this job, ConGen Castro, who speaks fluent French, declares, “I have great respect for the late ConGen Prospero and I vow to continue the good works that she has started in Toronto.  I do not intend to re-invent the wheel but hopefully should be able to enhance her program and contribute more projects for the benefit of Filipinos in Canada.”

Second Home Away from Home

The mandate of the current administration back home is very clear for all diplomats around the world – give priority to the welfare of Filipinos living abroad.  Assistance for all nationals is, therefore, a key component of any consulate’s service mission.

Fortunately for Fil-Cans, Canada is a very orderly and peaceful country. Things are in place and systems do run as smoothly as possible.  Very seldom does the consulate encounter human rights or complicated immigration cases. Having found himself in the past in the middle of the Flor Contemplacion case and the war in Middle East,  the good ConGen, who holds the rank of Chief of Mission II in the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, is just too happy to be assigned in a post in Canada.

This being, more energy and time can be devoted by the Consulate to programs re-connecting Filipinos to their heritage, improving trade relations between Canada and the Philippines, reaching out to the third-gen Fil-Cans and their involvement to Fil-Can communities, and engaging all Fil-Cans in worthy projects that benefit as much nationals as possible.

“Second home away from home” – that is how the new ConGen wants the Fil-Cans to consider the local consulate office. It is a place where they can feel safe and well taken care of. He has  also adopted an open-door policy where anybody can see him without an appointment.  As to the fear that the consulate is off limits to undocumented  nationals, he assures that the office serves everyone regardless of their statuses. Canada has its own system well in place to deal with immigration issues, he noted.

As for himself, the good ConGen wants to be remembered as somebody who had served his fellow Filipinos and served them well. His youth and restlessness at the beginning, notwithstanding, he has found his own home in foreign service and will continue to serve his kababayans in wherever second home they decide to settle.