By Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed the confirmation of Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. as Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary.
“The Palace welcomes the confirmation by the Commission on Appointments of Mr. Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s appointment as Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press statement.
“With this confirmation, Secretary Locsin would be able to lead the DFA in supporting the President chart an independent foreign policy course while pro-actively looking after the welfare, protection and well-being of millions of overseas Filipino workers around the world,” he added.
Panelo made this remark after the Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed Locsin’s appointment to replace former DFA chief Alan Peter Cayetano, who had resigned to run as Taguig representative in next year’s mid-term polls.
He pointed out that Malacañang expected Locsin to “fully advance the interests of the Philippines in the community of nations and protect the sovereignty of the State.”
During Locsin’s confirmation, Senator Panfilo Lacson, the chair of the CA’s committee on foreign affairs, described him as having “all the qualities to be the country’s top diplomat.”
“He has distinguished himself with the credentials and qualifications befitting someone who should be at the helm of the Department of Foreign Affairs — irrepressible, articulate, very independent-minded and extraordinarily prolific in writing,” Lacson said in his sponsorship speech.
Locsin, a lawyer, earned his Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1977 and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University in 1983.
He served as speechwriter for three former Presidents: Corazon Aquino, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Prior to that, he was publisher of the Philippines Free Press, and national broadsheets, the Daily Globe and Today.
