Former foreign affairs chief Locsin named ambassador to UK
MANILA, Philippines — Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has been named ambassador to the United Kingdom, the Palace, which also released his appointment paper, announces.
Locsin was foreign affairs secretary from 2018 to the end of the Duterte administration. Prior to being appointed to head the Department of Foreign Affairs, he represented the Philippines at the United Nations.
Locsin steered the DFA through several contentious decisions by then President Rodrigo Duterte, including the Philippines' withdrawal from the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court and the suspended and eventually abandoned termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US.
As foreign affairs secretary, he also defended the government's "drug war" against concerns raised from abroad, including a 2019 resolution at the UN Human Rights Council for a full report on the human rights situation in the Philippines, a move that he said was backed by drug cartels.
Locsin, known for using his Twitter account to issue instructions and statements, was quick to fire off orders for the DFA to help distressed Filipinos abroad and to bring them home if necessary.
Earlier this year, Locsin traveled to Poland to help with the repatriation of Filipinos displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an invasion that the Philippines condemned at the UN General Assembly as it called for "massive assistance" to those caught in the fighting.
"We especially condemn the use of separatism and secession as a weapon of diplomacy for inviting and inflicting terrible cruelties and indiscriminate killings far in excess of that of any other kind of conflict," the Philippines said then.
As ambassador, Locsin will also have concurrent jurisdiction over Ireland, the Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey.
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