MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. should stay at the helm of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) under the next administration, vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Tuesday.
This, after Sotto and his running mate, presidential contender Senator Panfilo Lacson, was asked about President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 remark expressing his intentions to 鈥済ift鈥� some of his Cabinet members to his successor.
鈥淎ny superior would be very happy to have you 鈥� actually, all of you. I will also hand you over鈥� If only I could give you all as a gift,鈥� Duterte said in a briefing aired late Monday.
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These Cabinet members include vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Finances Secretary Carlos Dominquez III.
鈥淜ung ako tatanungin, si Secretary Teddy Locsin ang ang dapat i-retain, yung iba pwede pag-aralan [If it were up to me, Secretary Teddy Locsin should be retained, the others can be studied],鈥� Sotto told reporters after a dialogue with tricycle drivers and operators here.
Locsin was appointed as DFA secretary in November 2018. Before this, he served as the Philippines鈥� permanent representative at the United Nations.
For his part, Lacson said the next administration should look into what these Cabinet members have done that would justify having them retained.
鈥淧ag-aralan natin. Dapat talaga 鈥榙i ba sabi ko lagi, science-based, data-driven. So pag-aralan natin ano bang ginawa nila doon sa kasalukuyang administration to merit their retention,鈥� he added.
(We should study it. As I鈥檝e said before, it should be science-based, data-driven. So let鈥檚 see what they did in the current administration that would merit their retention.)