President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. considered the “personal decision” and situation of former Presidential Management Staff Secretary Naida Angping before appointing her as Ambassador to France and Monaco, he said in a televised interview with a panel of broadcast journalists on Monday.
The President also said he would not turn former Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo into one of his advisers, noting he had other plans for the former TV and radio anchor.
“Well, the situation with then Secretary Naida Angping was that it was a personal decision in her part. She had some personal issues that she had to work through, and she said ‘I cannot do my work while I’m having to go through this. And that’s why I need to go and think about it,’” Mr. Marcos said in the interview in Malacañang Palace yesterday afternoon.
“(Angping) came back, and she said maybe I can just find something that will not—that I will be able to handle. And I said, ‘What do you think?’ And she said, ‘If you could appoint me to a diplomatic position?” the President added.
Mr. Marcos cited the accomplishments of the former PMS Secretary and his history for her new position in his administration.
“She has not held formally a diplomatic position, but she has been working with the foreign service for years, and years, and years. She’s a former staff member of my Uncle Kokoy,” the President said, noting Angping was a staffer of his uncle, former Leyte Governor and US Ambassador Benjamin Romualdez.
“And she worked in the American embassy, the Philippine embassy in the United States. She worked in—she worked well in China. She worked in all the areas that we were slowly opening up. So, she’s no different for that job,” he added.
As for Tulfo, he said: “No, that’s not been—that’s really not been part of the plan for Erwin. No, we have other plans for him. Not as a presidential adviser.”
Mr. Marcos is still inclined to give a position to Tulfo, whom he said did a “very good job” during his stint at the Department of Social Welfare and Developments before he was denied by the Commission on Appointments.
“I hope so. Because whatever we say – difficulties that he faced with the Committee on Appointments, in the CA, he – the time that he was running the DSWD he did a very good job. So we can’t lose that kind of—that kind of asset.” President Marcos said.
“So we’ll find something that he can do so we could take advantage of his good instincts when it comes to social service,” he added.