CA to confirm Teodoro Locsin Jr. this week

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments (CA) is expected to confirm on Wednesday Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. who apparently is not facing any opposition among members of the bicameral body, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

On that day, the CA committee on foreign affairs is scheduled to deliberate on Locsin’s appointment and that of 47 other officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), followed by a plenary session of the entire appointment screening body.

Lacson, who chairs the committee, said he expects Locsin to be confirmed without any hitch.

“Like I’ve said before, it’s going to be easy because when he passed through us when he was appointed as ambassador to the UN, there was no controversy. And it’s unlikely that we would hear of any anomaly from that time and this time,” Lacson told radio station dzBB.

He, however, could not say the same thing for Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista, two former military generals whose appointments have attracted some controversy.

Lacson also expects Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who was appointed last week to head the Department of Information and Communications Technology, to be confirmed by the CA before Congress goes on a break on Dec. 14.

Members of Congress who are appointed to the executive branch are given the courtesy of swift confirmation in the CA.

Internet-savvy diplomat

Meanwhile, the DFA’s complaints desk has a new high-level addition: newly appointed Foreign Affairs Secretary Locsin.

On social media platform Twitter, the internet-savvy diplomat has personally responded and in some cases ordered immediate action on concerns aired both by Filipino migrant workers and those facing difficulties in getting passport appointments.

“As I said, ‘The first mandate of a foreign ministry is not friggin’ talk diplomacy but the protection of nationals abroad which requires real diplomacy especially on the ground,’” he said following the rescue of a Filipina suffering abuse in Saudi Arabia.

“This tweeting business will not go on forever but @elmer_cato will put some arrangement in place in lieu of it. You know what I hate? A consulate’s phone ringing and ringing and not getting picked up,” he added, referring to DFA assistant secretary for public diplomacy Elmer Cato.

In most cases, it was Cato whom Locsin directs to respond or act on the concerns.

“It shows that he is on top of the situation, that we are addressing the concerns (raised to the department),” Cato told The STAR in a phone interview.

In the case of the Filipina being abused in Saudi Arabia, a netizen based in Bahrain asked Locsin last Nov. 20 to send assistance to her friend in Riyadh. She claimed that the Filipina was locked up by her employer and was subjected to physical abuse.

Two days later, Cato reported – also on Twitter – that the Filipina was already in the custody of the Philippine embassy and will be repatriated.

Earlier, Locsin directed Cato on the social media platform to look into the concerns of OFWs deployed in Libya, particularly on the policy that prevents them from going home this Christmas due to the deployment ban.

On Friday, Cato said the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency has issued the implementing guidelines for the Selective Balik Manggagawa Program for Filipinos in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.

“After a careful evaluation of the situation in Libya, the DFA has recommended to the Department of Labor and Employment the conditional exemption of other land-based OFWs from the deployment ban to allow them to come home for Christmas,” he added.

“Situation 1. OFWs in Libya in danger but earn living there. They wanna be home for Christmas. We say no. They stay in danger anyway. 2. We let them come home; they return to danger in Libya. So No. 1 or No. 2? No. 2 I said because at least they spent Christmas with family,” said Locsin on the matter.

Both DFA officials have also responded to inquiries on passport appointments, as well as supposed delays and problems in securing appointment slots.

“It used to take as long as three months to secure appointment slots. Now it could take as short as three days in Metro Manila. Applicants are also advised to check at 12 noon and 9 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays when we release 10,000 additional appointment slots to the public,” tweeted the assistant secretary.

“Passports are normally available and could be claimed after six working days for those who paid for expedited processing. Applicants who opt for home delivery should give an allowance of two to three days for the delivery of their passports,” he added.

Locsin, who was previously criticized for his tweets about the Holocaust, also remains active on airing his personal thoughts on various issues in the social media platform.

For instance, on the proposal for the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps for Grades 11 and 12 students, he yesterday recommended a “Swiss Army solution” that involves practice fighting with weapons rather than marching.

He also recommended “blowing up” the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and embark on “10 brand new nuclear power plants from Europe, Korea and China.”

“Our future is nuclear or nothing,” he said. – With Janvic Mateo