APD | New Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Locsin optimistic in working with DFA officials in implementing independent foreign policy

By APD writerMelo M. Acuna

MANILA, Oct. 28 (APD) – Newly-designated Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. met with senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the first time yesterday since being named Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano’s successor.

In a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs Sunday afternoon, he was quoted he looks forward to working with them in advancing the independent foreign policy of the Duterte Administration.

“I look forward to working with you, the men and women of the Philippine Foreign Service, here in the Home Office,” Mr. Locsin told his undersecretaries and assistant secretaries during the meeting that he convened hours after arrival from New York.

During the meeting, Secretary Locsin said that as foreign secretary, he will continue to pursue the President’s foreign policy directions by strengthening Manila’s relationship with its traditional allies and reaching out to new partners in the international community.

“My idea of an independent foreign policy is not to switch masters before whom we kneel but to get off our knees and stand on our feet and stand up for our country. That’s it,” he was quoted saying. Secretary Locsin served as Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York until his appointment by President Duterte about two weeks ago.

“We are working for a good president and we have a good job ahead of us,” he added as he described President Duterte’s views on foreign policy issues as far more independent than what’s been presented in the media.

He also took the opportunity to pay tribute to the career foreign service corps, saying it was an honor for him to head what he described as the most professional of the departments of government.

He added that was the reason he devolved to the DFA the responsibility for the implementation of the Overseas Voting Act of which he co-authored during his time at the House of Representatives.

“in our work, we are to be guided only by the purest scholarship and the most objective analysis,” he concluded.

Secretary-Designate Locsin is the 35th Secretary of Foreign Affairs since the country’s independence from Spain in 1898.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)