Locsin Looks Forward To Working With DFA Officials In Implementing Independent Foreign Policy For PH

28 October 2018 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. on Saturday met with senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the first time since assuming as Manila’s top diplomat and said 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,” Secretary Locsin told his undersecretaries and assistant secretaries during the meeting that he convened hours after his arrival from New York.

In 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,” said Secretary Locsin, who has been serving as Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York until he was named by President Duterte two weeks ago to succeed Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano.

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

In his meeting with DFA officials, the Secretary also took the opportunity to pay tribute to the career foreign service corps, saying it was an honor for him to be heading what he described as the most professional of the departments of government.

“That is the reason why I devolved to the DFA the responsibility for the implementation of the Overseas Voting Act of which I was a co-author and proponent on the floor of the House,” the former lawmaker said.

“The DFA is the most professional of all departments of government and it is that professionalism that I will help you preserve and protect,” the Secretary said.

It was the first time Secretary Locsin was able to meet with his management team at the DFA as he had to leave for Brussels to represent the President in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) immediately after he was sworn in on 17 October.

“As I get to know you more in the coming days ahead, I am ready to listen to your views. Once the work starts I do not believe in hierarchy but every one is to pitch in as an equal,” Secretary Locsin said.

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