RONALDO B. ZAMORA

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Chairman, if you notice, of the nine (9) nominees and appointees, six of them come from the House of Representatives, and it is my distinct honor, and it is a personal privilege, to second their nominations. 

First of the individual nominees right now for consideration is Congressman Fariñas, who, if you will remember, was also the immediately preceding Majority Leader in the 16th Congress of the Commission on Appointments.   And, it is also my privilege to second the nominations of the succeeding nominees, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and, of course, of all the members of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Chairman, I can speak, I feel without any possible contradictions that these are really the best and the  brightest  that  this august  Chamber can offer the Philippines. Who are they?  Mr. Chairman, we are talking of the Speaker of the House of Representatives; we are talking about the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives; we are talking about two Deputy Speakers  of  the  House  of Representatives; we are talking about very senior members of the Legislature, as we like to call it, “The Bigger House of the Philippine Congress”. 

In a word, Mr. Chairman, all of them, all the six of them, have worked very hard in their legislative careers. But it is not just in the legislature that they have worked. They have worked in the true calling for every Filipino public servant. And, what is that?  Mr. Chairman, that is to give true and honest service to the people of the Philippines after all, Mr. Chairman, isn’t it that what we pledged ourselves everyday is to serve the people of the Philippines?  So, often, undeservedly so often, not at all served in the best way possible.

Mr. Chairman, may I just spend a few minutes.  Both of our most senior officers in the House of Representatives, both of them are lawyers. Mr. Speaker, for instance, spent several years in the House of Representatives before, now as the Speaker.  He spent close to two years, voicing out what many in the House of Representatives, many in the Senate, would have liked to voice, taking very controversial positions but always pushing and very successfully, the legislative agenda of the President of the Philippines. Mr. Chairman, he has raised, as the Chairman has raised, federalism as a central issue for this administration. He has always told us that in the end, “federalism” means true local autonomies, something that, not only the Chairman but even his own equally esteemed father, has always championed true federalism that will bring about true empowerment of local government units and, most importantly, of the people of the Philippines.  He has not been fearful to take controversial positions and stands on controversial issues including those that we have long wanted to adopt:  “divorce”, “nullification of marriages”, “social positions” that previous leaders have failed to adopt. 

Mr. Chairman, this gentleman will be a prime contributor to the Armed Forces of the Philippines when he is finally confirmed, our present Majority Leader, who was once the Majority Leader of the Commission on Appointments.  You have heard anecdotes about his stint, I do not need to repeat them right now, but like you, Mr. Chairman, he did very well when he took the bar.  Like you, he did very well in the bar examinations, coming out as a bar topnotcher. This is without really studying law on the way some studied law, but he did very well because he had what he need to be, to be a topnotcher.  What is that?  Native intelligence - native intelligence in the law, native intelligence in the general experience of what makes to be a true lawyer. 

Mr. Chairman, these are what we have offered now to the Commission on Appointments.  These are true leaders.  These are valuable additions, not only to our present legislature, not only to public service, but these will now be valuable additions to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

Mr. Chairman, I am privileged to second their nominations. 

Thank you.  

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  Thank you, Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Chairman/Mr. Senate President, distinguished colleagues -   “People remember and people forget”.  People forget that our nominee is a three-term Congressman and a colleague of ours who represented the single richest district in the country, First District of Makati, and it remains the riches district in the country today with an income that outruns every single province in the country, instead people remember that our nominee is a one-man keyboard army and a great one.

In this age when Twitter has been weaponized, he can say more in a tweet than what most of us can barely say in a whole speech.

If diplomacy is about saying the nastiest thing in the nicest way, then he had raised it to an art form.  Those who will sit across him in negotiations will never know if they have been paid a compliment or have been showered with criticisms.

They say that Foreign Relations is pursued with wine and words.  Well trust me, our nominee can toast, our nominee can boast, and our nominee can roast.

And first of all, he will not allow anyone to smear the Philippine Republic or insult his countrymen, especially the OFWs he loves, and he will tweet in the street, he will tweet in his car, he will tweet in his bed, and in his office, and he will never surrender the dignity of the nation.

This is not to say that the only thing he got is a smart-phone, in fact he   uses a Nokia 3310, which is so brand new but so outdated.  So, non-smart a  phone but he knows smart diplomacy like no other.

The first requirement, Mr. Chairman, for a Secretary of Foreign Affairs is, of course, an intimate knowledge of your own backyard, of your own homeland.  Our nominee knows the Philippine economy, like whose fortunes sprouted but there was blood in the streets.  He knows its politics, like who bought enough votes to win and who may have overpaid for a landslide; and, he knows its history because he either wrote about it or witnessed it at first hand.  

In his public career, he has supplied the words to the yearnings of people to be free, the revolution’s communiqués to the outside world, the stirring prose of a new leader’s inaugural speech.

He has this gift to capture in a language that moves our people, in various times of our history, the ideas to be conveyed:  whether defiance in the face of a coup, hope in times of disasters, faith in the country’s future, and always, always believe in our Filipino people.  But he speaks, and will always, speak, truth to power – whether the power is local or foreign.

There is also another thing we must always keep in mind.  He has this soft spot for the ordinary and the common.  He can ignore the powerful, but he will never deadpan the poor.  He treats the help at home the way he treats the high and the mighty.

This is our nominee’s second time to appear in so short of time before the Commission.  This time, however, I told him that we should arrange his confirmation immediately because work for our nation, work that is the most important and profound, work beckons.

Although, just to hit a private joke alive, he comes from the wrong law school, it is my honor and privilege, Mr. Chairman, and pleasure to endorse, to second, and to vote for the confirmation of a very good friend, Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr., as our Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.