PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has picked Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. as the next Philippines top diplomat.
Duterte named Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano's possible replacement early Friday morning, October 12, upon his arrival in Davao City from Southeast Asian Leaders' Gathering in Bali, Indonesia.
The President was initially hesitant to name the next head of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
He, however, later on asked his most trusted aide, Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, to make a phone call and ask Locsin for permission.
"Baka ayaw niyang i-announce. (Perhaps, he does not want it to be announced.) I do not have his permission. Mahirap kasi if I give out his name. (It's difficult if I give out his name)," Duterte said in an arrival interview.
"Bong, tawagan mo nga si Teddy Boy Locsin. Sabihin mo kung pwede bang i-mention ang pangalan niya dito (Bong, call Teddy Boy Locsin. Ask him if we can mention his name here)," he added.
Duterte's announcement came three days after he revealed that Cayetano will run for a national post in the 2019 mid-term elections.
Cayetano, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, October 11, revealed his "possible return to Congress."
Asked if Locsin had already accepted the post at the DFA, Duterte said, "I don't know."
On his Twitter account, Locsin confirmed that he accepted the Chief Executive's offer to become the next secretary of the DFA.
Locsin said that while he loves his current role as the country's envoy to the UN, he could not decline the new position being offered to him.
"I was asked, I said yes; but love UN, the many friends and intellectual companions I made. But I didn't say no when asked as I didn't want when he told me I was UN ambassador. If my Tito Chito Ayala trusted him implicitly, how can I not. Still UN work is like sharpening a blade every day," he said.
"I will be Secretary of Foreign Affairs which includes the UN; I will have a direct hand until the architecture of sovereign independence in all matters of state that my team started to erect is remitted. Talent that doesn't exist outside DFA will complete it," Locsin added.
Locsin is a lawyer, politician, and a former journalist. (VoxPop Philippines)
