Congratulations to my classmate, Jaime Ascalon

Jaime Ascalon, one of my best friends at the Political Science class in the University of the Philippines in Diliman and a colleague when I served as head of the economic diplomacy unit of the CIRSS at the FSI, is now a Consul. He is to serve at the DFA consulate General in San Francisco, California. Let the Inquirer describe my dear friend:

Prior to his posting in San Francisco, Ascalon was detailed from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Office of the President as Deputy Chief of Presidential Protocol.
At the Department of Foreign Affairs, he served as Special Assistant at the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and later as Principal Assistant.  He then became the Acting Director, at the Office of ASEAN Affairs from 1998 to 2002.
Before joining the DFA, Ascalon was a foreign affairs research specialist at the Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies of the Foreign Service Institute.
His first foreign assignment was in Brunei Darussalam, where he served from 2002 to 2008 as Third Secretary and Vice Consul and subsequently as Second Secretary and Consul.
Ascalon earned his B.A. Political Science degree at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He is married to Maria Cecilia Gregorio-Ascalon and they have two children, Jaime Martin, 13, and Andre Luis, 8

I congratulate my dear friend and hope that even though we don't see each other as frequently as before, I expect him to really push for the welfare of the People first, and his personal, second.