DND chief may be named ambassador to US

President Duterte has asked Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to be the country’s ambassador to the United States, citing the need for the Philippines to have a steady relationship with the US despite some concerns over the anti-drug campaign.

“We are looking for one. I was not joking that if we could not find anybody, it would be Lorenzana. He has a long stint at Washington,” Duterte said during the oath taking of Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya, generals and flag officers at Malacañang.

Duterte expressed confidence that Lorenzana could handle the job, citing his many years in the diplomatic corps.

“But he wants to stay on. Let’s see. We will just have to scout for a new defense secretary,” Duterte said, clarifying a statement he issued in an ambush interview after the event.

From 2004 to 2015, Lorenzana was special presidential representative for veterans’ affairs at

the Philippine embassy in Washington.

As defense and Armed Forces attaché from 2002 to 2004, he oversaw and monitored bilateral relations between the Philippines and the US on the Visiting Forces Agreement, military exercises, aid, training and foreign military sales.

Despite his recent attacks against the US and Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Duterte said the Philippines could not ignore the US’ influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The same goes for China, with which the Philippines has a conflict over the West Philippine Sea.

“There are a lot of things to talk about. APEC is coming, ASEAN is there. We will receive the chairmanship. Invariably, whether you like it or not, there will be issues involving everybody, including China and the United States, the Philippines and everybody,” Duterte said.

Duterte will embark on an ASEAN tour in early September.

In case Lorenzana goes to Washington, Duterte said he wants to appoint former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro to the position.

Before Duterte assumed the presidency, he had offered the defense portfolio to Teodoro, who refused it.

“I would like to call him again. Gibo is very talented, bright and handles himself very well, both privately and publicly,” the President said, adding Teodoro was his lawyer.

DWSD chief denies quitting

Meanwhile, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo denied she is quitting from her post as a protest against extrajudicial killings and the Marcos burial.

Taguiwalo and fellow leftists in the Cabinet – Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, National Anti- Poverty Commission chair Liza Maza and Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglungsod – were reportedly considering resigning from their posts.

“Whatever positions we have regarding the burial of Marcos and extrajudicial killings, we will convey directly to the President,” Taguiwalo said.

“We are one with him in hoping for the crafting of a just and lasting peace with the NDF and the MNLF and in condemning all forms of corruption,” she added, referring to the National Democratic Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

She said they are working with President Duterte to ensure that social services are accessible to the people.

She denounced those who are manipulating information to derail the ongoing peace talks in Oslo.