On the Confirmation of the Appointment of Teodoro Locsin
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto
28 November 2018

Mr. President, fellow senators, colleagues from the House:

A fellow Batangueño based in Dubai, one of the fans of this "Twitter rockstar," has texted me to confirm the nominee because he is "an OFW, an Outstanding Facebook Warrior."

For this is true, Mr. President:

While we may not have missiles to launch, we possess something more potent - Locsin missives, to which no shield has been proven effective against their withering fire.

As our Vice Chairman, the good Congressman Zamora has said, he will not let an insult unanswered, that "he will tweet in his office, he will tweet in his car, he will tweet on the streets, he will never surrender."

No statesman since Churchill has mobilized the English language and sent it to defend his country.

But it is a role not new to him. He has articulated his people's beliefs from the moment he learned to pound his father's typewriter. He is the unofficial spokesman of the Filipino race.

Whether his opinions are in longform or in 240 characters, they represent the best in the craft-- they never fail to delight the reader, inspire the nation, and influence history.

Without him, public discourse will be monopolized by people who will just say the loudest what is on everybody's mind.

I can say with authority that he is the most well-read foreign affairs secretary in the world today.

I can't imagine Boris the Brexiter having read Waltz or Morgenthau, or Pompeo of Foggy Bottom having encountered Spengler. Kissinger, perhaps, but the person, not his writings.

At a time when diplomacy is practiced by those who "speak softly and carry a selfie stick", it pays to have a foreign affairs secretary who is brash, brave and brilliant because it will allow our country to punch above its weight.

But he did not learn what he needs to do for his present job from books alone.

He is a lawyer, a journalist, a publisher, a Kapuso. He had sat in the boards of blue chip companies. He spent three terms in Congress as resident editor, who gave free tutorials on how to write clear and concise laws to colleagues whose verbosity was as big as their egos.

But he didn't grab credit for his edits. An example is the Cheaper Medicines Law, which he fashioned into one good piece of legislation.

He went to Harvard for his LLM. But it was in Makati where he mastered public diplomacy. I would say that anyone who can walk the "riles" of Makati at night without gin coming out of his ears or blood from his side is one smart and charming diplomat.

It is also where he learned to genuinely serve the people.

So when he gives the order that the Filipino must not ring thrice or an embassy must not sound like the opening scene of "Once Upon A Time in America," where an unattended phone constantly rings, he means it.

He now has 110 million constituents: 100 million here, plus 10 million abroad. He is the best man for the job.

It is still my great honor to vote for the confirmation of my good friend, Teodoro Lopez Locsin, Jr., as our Secretary of Foreign Affairs.