Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Lopez Locsin Jr. (born November 15, 1948) is a Filipino politician, diplomat, lawyer, and former journalist who is currently serving as the Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom since August 30, 2022.

Locsin was born in Manila on November 15, 1948.

His father was the prominent newspaperman and publisher Teodoro Locsin Sr.. from the Negrense branch of the Locsin family of Molo, Iloilo.

He studied at the Ateneo de Manila University and received a bachelor's degree in law and jurisprudence.

He also earned a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University.

He was 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.

He was the host of the editorial segment titled "Teditorial" for ANC's nightly newscast The World Tonight.

When Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing retired from the Supreme Court in 2009, Locsin was among the candidates nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council as a potential replacement.

However, he was not appointed to the said post.

Locsin is married to Ma. Lourdes Barcelon, a 2010 candidate for representative of the 1st district of Makati who lost in a tight race to outgoing Councilor Monique Lagdameo of PDP–Laban.

He was formerly married to Philippine Stock Exchange director Vivian Yuchengco.

They have two daughters, Margarita and Bianca.

Locsin frequently uses social media as a platform to air his views.

He is pro-death penalty, citing in Twitter that the President should order the mass murder of cops who hurt others.

He has been criticised for his controversial use of social media.

Locsin has found himself at the center of various controversial public statements via the social media platform Twitter.

In 2012, he was nominated as chief justice to replace Renato Corona but the post eventually went to Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

It was announced that he accepted the appointment on September 18, 2016.

Under his leadership, the Philippines voted to abstain from the challenge against the legality of the Independent Expert on SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) at a November 2016 session.

In March 2016, during the during the Visayas leg of the PiliPinas Debates 2016, he opined in a tweet that the Tagalog language was "inappropriate to pointed debate" describing it as "so long, so bullshitty, so useless".

Conversely, he described English as "the civilized language" and "the language of men".

He later defended his comments, saying "show me that [Tagalog] is a good language. That it is effective in debate, that it can get its point across".

He did however praise Luchi Cruz-Valdes for effectively moderating the debate in Tagalog: "she got the point across. In spite of the terrible situation, she was in control, and she did it in Tagalog."

Locsin was designated as the Philippines' 20th Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.

His term officially began when he presented his credentials to the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, on April 19, 2017.

Also, the Philippines was among 10 nations that voted against a UN resolution urging Myanmar to end its military campaign against Rohingya Muslims living in the Rakhine state in November 2017.

Additionally, the country was one of 35 nations to abstain on the UN vote to declare the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital null and void during an emergency December 2017 session of the UN General Assembly.

Locsin expressed support for the Philippine Drug War on August 21, 2017, through Twitter, comparing the campaign against drugs of President Duterte to Adolf Hitler's Final Solution and said he does not believe in the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

He followed this with another remark that the "Nazis were not all wrong" and said people should keep an open mind drawing criticism.

He previously served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Duterte administration from 2018 to 2022.

In March 2018, Locsin submitted the country's letter of withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, after President Duterte expressed his intent to withdraw from the court.

Locsin vacated the post of permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations on October 12, 2018, upon assuming the post of Foreign Affairs Secretary, with the former post being filled up by his successor, Enrique Manalo.

On October 11, 2018, Locsin announced that President Rodrigo Duterte offered him the post of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, which was held by Alan Peter Cayetano.

Locsin was sworn in by Duterte as secretary of Foreign Affairs on October 17, 2018.

His appointment confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on November 28, 2018.

On August 30, 2022, President Bongbong Marcos nominated Locsin to be the next Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom, of which the position has been left vacant since July 7, 2022 after Antonio M. Lagdameo was appointed as the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations by President Marcos on July 7, 2022.

Then-press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles announced Locsin's appointment on the aforementioned post on September 4, 2022, with his appointment being subsequently confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on December 7, 2022.

Later, Locsin has presented his credentials on May 16, 2023 to King Charles III.

Amidst recent maritime confrontations with China due to territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea, President Marcos appointed Locsin on August 16, 2023 as concurrent Special Envoy of the President to the People’s Republic of China for Special Concerns.

Cayetano intended to run in the May 2019 elections for representative of Taguig–Pateros, effectively vacating the position.