36/365: On The Road with Foreign Dignitaries

What made my work tripley exciting—no, a hundred times exciting—was preparing for the official visits of foreign dignitaries. Ministers, cabinet secretaries, directors, and even on two occasions, presidents. I've even had a chance of leading the arrangements for the visit of then Defence Minister and now Malaysian Prime Minister Dato S'ri Najib Razak!

Welcome mat for a visiting dignitary.

The work's not unlike that of an orchestral conductor's. I had to be on top of several things at the same time. Of course, a team's always organized to prepare for one of these top level visits but being the boss' liaison with the rest of the team, one has to know everything that's going on if one is to keep her head attached to her body for most of the day, heh. And that meant making decisions, trouble shooting and pinch hitting.

This dignitary that's about to come down from the plane was in Manila for a hush hush visit. These days, the Arab spring has swept his country, too, and now he's in detention. But back when his father was part of Manila's peace strategy with the MILF rebels, our Christmas then was one hectic, frenetic affair.

I remember having a difficult time with the protocols for this kind of visit. Lots of meetings with the foreign affairs and armed forces team. And yeah, backdoor arrangements for a visit between him and a certain individual under house arrest, heh.

Exciting times, definitely. Exhausting work, too!