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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Locsin declines offer to run for Senate seat

Locsin declines offer to run for Senate seat

Published Feb 18, 2021 07:17 pm

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday admitted that he declined the offer for him to run for a Senate seat in the 2022 national polls and deemed it “an infinitely higher honor to walk away.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN)

In a tweet, Locsin said he has told President Duterte of his decision to “walk away” from power and position even as some of his “friends” in the Cabinet are poised to join the senatorial race.

“Friends in Cabinet are running for the Senate; those I deeply admire. I already declined; telling the President I deem it infinitely higher honor to walk away from power and position beside him in June 2022. No greater honor than to walk away from it all with such a president,” he said.

It is not known, however, if Locsin’s decision not to seek a Senate seat is already final, or "he is just merely playing hard-to-get,” said a former DFA official who requested anonymity.

He served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2010, representing the 1st district of Makati, and later served as the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018.

Aside from Locsin, among the other cabinet men who are rumored to run under the administration’s senatorial slate are Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, Interior and Local Governments Secretary Eduardo Año, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, National Task Force and COVID-19 czar Carlito Galvez, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo and Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

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