Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has just added another job title to his lengthy resume: love guru.
That’s after he dished love advice yesterday on Twitter to a woman who complained that the Philippine embassy in Poland is making it difficult for her to marry her Estonian boyfriend. This prompted Locsin, who’s known for tweeting harsh and sometimes controversial commentary, to tell her to test her boyfriend’s love.
Yup, you read that correctly. The former journalist and diplomat also, apparently, has a lot of thoughts about romance.
The giggle-inducing exchange of tweets started when netizen Lia Tundag (@liatundag) messaged Locsin to complain about her predicament.
Tundag said that she was in Estonia preparing to get married to her boyfriend and that she had to have her National Statistics Office birth certificate (NSO) and Certificate of No Marriage Record (CENOMAR) legalized. For this to happen, she needed a “sample signature” from the Philippine Embassy in Poland but the process, she said, takes forever.
Good PM sir, @teddyboylocsin! I am currently in Estonia and preparing to get married to an Estonian Citizen. My 90-day Schengen Visa is expiring soon & I need to get my NSO & CENOMAR legalised however the process to obtain a sample signature from PH Embassy in Poland is slow.
— Lia Tundag (@liatundag) January 8, 2019
Locsin retweeted her tweet and responded to her by saying: “If he loves you he will wait and I think you are worth the wait. One must always test love.”
If he loves you he will wait and I think you are worth the wait. One must always test love. https://t.co/zZY0xRMCQj
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 8, 2019
But Locsin’s words didn’t soothe the worries of the harassed bride-to-be.
Tundag went on to explain her travails further. She wrote that the Philippine embassy allegedly replies to emails coming from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs only after one to two weeks. She added that they are running out of time and money.
According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the fastest the PH Embassy in Poland typically replies to an email is 1- 2 weeks. I am running out of time, sir @teddyboylocsin and we have exhausted so much of our personal finances, as well as…
— Lia Tundag (@liatundag) January 8, 2019
…the finances of both our families already. I am humbly asking for your assistance and hope in some way that you can expedite this process for us. Thank you so much @teddyboylocsin
— Lia Tundag (@liatundag) January 8, 2019
Perhaps sensing her desperation — or maybe because he understands that sometimes true love simply cannot wait — Locsin tagged Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Elmer Cato in a tweet. Locsin asked Cato to help Tundag. He also wrote, somewhat slightly sarcastically, “They can’t wait. Love.”
OK. @elmer_cato please help her. They can’t wait. Love. https://t.co/IzHlEOMwKJ
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 8, 2019
And the cool thing is that everything seems to have worked out. Cato tweeted the bride-to-be today that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has sent the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw the specimen signatures of the authentication officers.
Hello Lia. @DFAPHL’s Office of Consular Affairs transmitted to Warsaw PE this morning the updated specimen signatures of authentication officers. You should be good to go. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us in case there still are issues. Congratulations and best wishes!
— Elmer G Cato (@elmer_cato) January 9, 2019
Perfect. Best wishes to the couple!
Before becoming DFA Secretary, Locsin was a congressperson for the first district of Makati from 2001 to 2010. He is also a known journalist. However, his reputation has somewhat been tainted in recent years.
He is known for defending President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies and sparked controversy when he called for a “final solution” similar to what Nazis have done because the country’s drug problem was allegedly “so big.”
He also tweeted to the BBC: “[T]he Nazis were right after all. C’mon just say it because anyway, Europe will do it.”
