The Quintessential Diplomat

Consul General Josue L. Villa

By Val G. Abelgas

When Consul General Josue L. Villa leaves Los Angeles to assume his new post as Philippine Ambassador to China, he will surely miss the Filipino community he and his charming wife, Carol, have learned to love so much.

After all, the couple has been attending an average of four Filipino functions every day, not to mention the personal friendships they have developed in the almost five years that Villa has been assigned as Philippine Consul General in Los Angeles. In China, there is not a single Filipino association for the less than 1,000 Filipino expatriates living in Beijing.

Instead of the more personal job of socializing with the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos living in his jurisdiction of Southern California (including San Diego), Southern Nevada (including Las Vegas), New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, Villa will be busy attending the more formal functions, numbering at least 180 a year, hosted by the 180 diplomatic missions from all over the world in Beijing.

"We will still be very busy attending these social functions, since every mission hosts a function on their respective national day. But these are formal occasions, unlike Filipino functions, which are less formal and more fun," Villa said.

Mrs. Villa agrees. "I enjoyed our stay in Los Angeles very much. I feel more relaxed, I love the weather, and I enjoyed interacting with fellow Filipinos very much, although our schedule has become very hectic because of the hundreds of Filipino functions we had to attend," she said.

It's actually back to diplomatic work for the Villas. Prior to his Los Angeles posting, Villa was Philippine ambassador to Thailand for two full terms, from 1986 to 1993. During this time, he also served in concurrent capacity as non-resident ambassador to Laos, special envoy to Cambodia, and Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

As Consul General based in Los Angeles, Villa has no functions on a government-to-government basis. His functions are more consular in nature.

"I had more time to enjoy my job, because it is much less complicated than the ambassadorial post, which is held by the chief of mission assigned in Washington," Villa said, who added, however, that in his post, he had to attend so many social functions of the Filipino community.

With some 600 Filipino organizations existing in his area of jurisdiction, Villa receives scores of invitations every week. "It's just physically impossible to attend all of them, but I do my best to attend the most number possible. This means about three to four social functions a day, especially during weekends. I ask the other consular officials to attend the other functions, but even they have to attend around two functions a day."

But Villa said he made it a point to attend every function possible, to make his presence felt in the community. "They were great opportunities to link up with the Filipino community, to show them that the Philippine government, which we represent, cares for them. They also offered an opportunity to rally them to unite and work together as one community."

Villa has made it his personal crusade to unite the Filipinos in his jurisdiction. After all, it was the direct directive of then President Fidel V. Ramos to Villa before leaving Manila to assume his new post in Los Angeles in August 1995: "Try to do something about the Filipino community. Work together with them, promote unity, and bring the Consulate closer to the people." Those were his marching orders.

Like a good soldier, Villa focused on these directives from the President.

A few months after his arrival in Los Angeles, Villa summoned the leaders of the various Filipino organizations to a meeting at his residence in Hancock Park. Only a handful of Filipino community leaders were there, but somehow Villa was able to convince them to organize and handle preparations for the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day celebrations leading to the Philippine Independence Day Centennial celebrations in 1998.

A bigger meeting was held later at the Casa Filipina in Carson, but the meeting, as is typical with huge Filipino events, was factious. But with Villa mediating, the almost 100 representatives of scores of Filipino organizations were able to organize the Philippine Independence Centennial Commission for Southern California (PICCSC), under the leadership of Dr. Carlos Manlapaz.

"For years, the Philippine Independence Day celebrations were coordinated by the Philippine Consulate General. But this time, Manila officials wanted the Filipino community to directly handle the celebrations to make it a true community effort, in time for the centennial celebrations," Villa explained.

Despite the usual intramurals among the many organizations affiliated with the PICCSC, the three Independence Day celebrations leading to the centennial year were huge successes. For the first time in years, the Filipino community stood proud as one in celebrating the Philippines' centennial year with a grand parade through Los Angeles streets, a trade and cultural fair at Echo Park, local celebrations in Carson, West Covina, Glendale, and other areas; various other cultural activities throughout Southern California, essay and literary writing contests among the youth, and a grand ball at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

Although the unity that was displayed during the centennial celebrations has slowly disintegrated, Villa continues to be optimistic that Filipinos in the United States will someday unite to become a potent force in American society.

"We must not tire to pursue unity, wherever we are, and whenever the need for it calls us to act together as a people," Villa said. "I know unity is a difficult task, because it is endemic in our culture, being an archipelago. But I've not given up on it. I believe unity is still very much alive in us."

In fact, Villa's first priority upon assuming his post in China, he said, would be to help organize the first Filipino association in China. He said there are about 1,000 Filipino expatriates in China, but not a single Filipino organization.

Villa will be joined in Beijing by his wife of 35 years, Caroline Macias, who, like Villa has had more than 35 years of foreign service work behind her.

Mrs. Villa, who is a daughter of former Congressman Lamberto Macias of Negros Oriental, was in her second foreign posting as a Department of Foreign Affairs support staff in London when she met the young Villa, who was then on a Colombo Plan scholarship as a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics. Villa was then attached to the Philippine Embassy in London as a young Foreign Service Officer while studying at the London School of Economics.

Mrs. Villa started her foreign service career in 1960 at the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, where she was then taking masteral studies in optometry. After a whirlwind romance, the couple got married in January 1965. From then on, they have made it a point to be together wherever Villa was posted. After a six-year home assignment in Manila, Villa was assigned to Seoul, Korea as First Secretary and Consul General, second in command to the ambassador. Mrs. Villa had to go on an extended leave of absence for three years to be with her husband. At that time, there was a standing DFA policy that disallowed the same posting for married couples.

In 1975, Villa was assigned as Minister-Counselor of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, and served there for five years. It was while Villa was in New York that the DFA policy on husband-and-wife was revoked, enabling Mrs. Villa to resume foreign service work at the Philippine Mission to the U.N. At the same time, Villa was promoted to the rank of Chief of Mission.

But shortly thereafter, Villa was recalled to Manila for another long period at the home office, from 1980 to 1986, serving alternately as assistant secretary for economic affairs, and then as assistant secretary for American affairs. In 1986, shortly after the EDSA Revolution installed Cory Aquino as president, many Philippine ambassadorial posts were vacated by the political appointees. Villa was appointed as ambassador to Thailand, and served two full terms in the Bangkok post, from 1986 to 1993. While in Bangkok, he served in concurrent capacity as non-resident ambassador to Laos; special envoy of the Philippines to the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, headed by King Norodom Sihanouk; and Philippine permanent representative to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Mrs. Villa again had to take an extended two-year leave of absence to be with her husband, until she was finally given an assignment in Bangkok as cultural attache.

In December 1993 until July 1995, the couple were back for home assignment in Manila. Villa was named assistant secretary for American affairs.

Finally, in August 1995, Villa was assigned to Los Angeles as Consul General. Not wanting to file another extended leave of absence, Mrs. Villa finally resigned from the DFA after 35 years of service.

"I thoroughly enjoyed life in Los Angeles because I was already retired. I loved the weather, the people were wonderful, I was more relaxed, and I was able to mix so much with so many Filipinos," Mrs. Villa said during an interview at the Beverly Hills home of popular Immigration Attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel and his Filipina wife, Millie, prior to a farewell dinner at the classy Spagos of Beverly Hills, courtesy of the Gurfinkels. Aside from the daily social functions of Filipino organizations, Mrs. Villa was kept busy by her activities with the Asean Ladies Circle of Los Angeles, of which she was president in 1998. The Asean Ladies Circle is composed of wives of diplomats from Asean countries assigned in Los Angeles.

Ambassador Villa, on the other hand, was busy attending Filipino functions. This gave him a golden opportunity to pursue the other half of his marching orders from President Ramos -- to bring the Consulate closer to the people.

But Villa did not stop at attending social functions to bring the Consulate closer to the people. He knew that he had to regain the trust and confidence of the ordinary Filipino conducting business at the Consulate. He talked to them to get the pulse of his constituency, and observed the work at the Consulate. The first thing he did to improve the Consulate's services was to remove the payment of income tax in the last three years to the Philippine government as a requirement for the issuance of a Philippine passport. At first, the Consulate staff resisted the idea, but Villa told them: "Show me a law that says Philippine income tax must be paid prior to the issuance of a Philippine passport, and I won't pursue the idea."

Nobody could produce a law, and so Villa removed the tax requirement, the first Philippine consular post to do so. Soon, consular posts from all over the world were calling him to confirm his new rule. But they eventually followed in removing the income tax requirement.

Villa was to be vindicated when the Philippine Congress amended an onerous law that resulted in double taxation for overseas Filipinos.

As a result of the removal of the income tax requirement, more Filipinos applied for new passports or passport renewal, increasing the workload of the Consulate staff. Villa instituted reforms to prevent backlogs in passport and document processing. Because of these reforms, the Consulate is now able to process passport applications within 48 hours and sometimes even 24 hours in certain cases. It used to take from four to five days to complete the processing of passport applications.

"We try very hard to process the passports within 24 hours, but the heavy volume -- 100 to 120 applications daily -- often extended to waiting time to 48 hours," Villa said.

In addition, Villa has ordered his staff to make sure that senior applicants (65 years old and above) would not have to return the next day for his passport, enabling these elderly people to get their passport the same day. As a tribute to Filipino war veterans, Villa ordered that no service fees will be charged them for consular services.

Villa goes out of his way to assist these Filipino war veterans. On one occasion, Villa drove some Filipino veterans home and saw for himself the pitiful living conditions of the veterans.

These and other actions of Villa have endeared him to the Filipino community in Southern California. Hundreds of Filipino community leaders will stand as one again on Friday, June 2, at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel to show their gratitude and appreciation, and to pay tribute to the man who gave much of himself to serve his Filipino constituency.

The farewell affair is being organized by the PICCSC, headed by Chairman Dr. Carlos Manlapaz. Ambassador and Mrs. Villa will be leaving Los Angeles on June 16 with a heavy heart. But like a good soldier, he will march on to China to pursue his marching orders. Truly, a great diplomat.