UNHCR wants Aquino's sister Kris as goodwill ambassador

Manila: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wanted the younger sister of President Benigno Aquino, TV broadcaster Kris Aquino, to be its goodwill ambassador in Asia, a senior official said.

"They have invited Kris Aquino to be an ambassadress of goodwill in Asia in the tradition of (actress) Angelina Jolie and (the late) Princess Diana," Presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas said after arriving from Switzerland.

"I don't know if the offer was (already) accepted," said Llamas who attended the UNHCR executive meeting in Geneva.

Antonio Gutierrez, UN's High Commissioner for Refugees led a group that deliberated on choosing the young Aquino for the post, said Llamas

Meanwhile, President Aquino was also invited to be a keynote speaker at the UNHCR's meeting in Geneva in December, said Llamas.

Noting the message he relayed to the UNHCR, Llamas said that President Aquino can relate to concerns for refugees and displaced persons because he himself lived in exile in the United States starting 1980, during the time of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

President Aquino's father, Senator Benigno Aquino, when he came home from exile in the United States in 1983, was shot to death by his escorts at the stairway of the China Airlines plane.

The incident sparked a strong anti-Marcos sentiment which was capped by a people-backed military mutiny that ousted the former strongman and propped Corazon Aquino to the presidency in 1986.

The policy of the Philippines on refugee and migration can truly inspire the rest of the world, Llamas quoted Gutierrez as saying.

UNHCR's other current ambassadors of goodwill are Giorgio Armani, Julien Clerc, George Dalaras, Muazzez Ersoy, Barbara Hendricks, Khaled Hosseini, Adel Imam, Osvald Laport, Boris Trajanov, and Jesus Vazquez.