By ELLEN T.TORDESILLAS
THE resignation of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, four months before the end of the Aquino administration, may yet pave the way for Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda to realize his dream of becoming foreign secretary.
Not many know Lacierda’s desire to be head of the much-coveted cabinet position. It was Mar Roxas, the presidential candidate of President Aquino and the Liberal party, who told an ambassador that Lacierda would be his foreign secretary.
Roxas, the envoy recalled, presented Lacierda to him: “Here’s your future boss.”
The envoy was taken aback, he replied, “I won’t be with the DFA anymore by that time.”
Funny. The envoy’s reply sounded like “I’m thankful I won’t be there when that disaster happens in the DFA.”
The envoy was thinking that it would happen after 2016 and assuming that Roxas would succeed Aquino.
But that possibility doesn’t seem very likely because in the many surveys conducted of the presidential race for the May 2016 elections, Roxas has never topped one.
Although analysts say the 2016 presidential contest is a close fight. In the latest Pulse Asia survey, where Partido Galing at Puso presidential bet Grace Poe, retook the lead from United Nationalist Alliance’s Jejomar Binay, Roxas no longer trailed PDP-Laban’s Rodrigo Duterte. He tied with Duterte in third place. In the latest survey of pollster Junie Laylo conducted last week, where Poe again topped, Roxas already tied with Binay in second place.
But Lacierda need not anchor his dream on the doubtful victory of Roxas in the 2016 elections. He can lobby for the President to appoint him to be acting secretary and enjoy the perks of being the top diplomat in the last four months of the Aquino administration.
Sources in Malacanang, however, said President Aquino is inclined to appoint one of the career undersecretaries to be acting secretary just like what he did when he appointed Dr. Emmanuel Esguerra as acting socio-economic secretary and director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority to replace Arsenio Balisacan who was appointed as the first chairman of the newly-formed Philippine Competition Commission.
There are three undersecretaries who are still active career officers: Laura Q. del Rosario, undersecretary for International Economic Relations; Linglingay F. Lacanlale, undersecretary for administration; and Evan P. Garcia, undersecretary for policy.
It’s likely to be Lula del Rosario (no relation to the outgoing foreign secretary), who competently stirred the substantive part of the Philippine hosting of the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last November.
Del Rosario’s resignation is effective March 7. He will still be accompanying President Aquino to the Special ASEAN-US summit in California on Feb. 15 to 16. He is also expected to say his farewell to his Asean counterparts during the regional group’s Foreign Minister’s Meeting Retreat in Vientiane, Laos on Feb. 27.
Dubbed by nationalists as “American Boy,” Del Rosario’s stint in the DFA will always be remembered as the lowest point of Philippine-China relations.
