Retired University of the Philippines professor Clarita Carlos was offered a government post under the administration of incoming President Bongbong Marcos Jr., but she declined it since it was not related to foreign affairs, which she considered her expertise.,Carlos told the Daily Tribune’s morning program “Gising Na” that she was chosen to lead a government post which she refused to disclose.,“No, they haven’t,” she said when asked if she was asked to lead the foreign affairs department. “But they offered me a different position weeks ago which I declined. Let’s not elaborate on that because it was confidential.”,The scholar and longtime educator said she would have accepted the offer to be part of the Marcos administration if she were appointed to the Department of Foreign Affairs.,“I didn’t accept the offer to me several weeks ago because I don’t want to be part of something which is not my expertise. You asked if I will accept a DFA post, why not? Because foreign policy and security are my research and expertise,” Carlos said.,“If I contribute, I want it in my area of research and expertise,” she added.,At press time, Marcos has yet to name his foreign affairs secretary.,Carlos is currently the executive director of policy research think tank StratSearch Foundation, Inc.,She has been a consultant for the Local Government Development Foundation since 1993 and is president of the Center for Asia Pacific Studies.,Carlos also served as the President of the National Defense College of the Philippines and lectured at the National Defense University in the United States.,She was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow for Political Psychology at Cornell University and Senior Fulbright for Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis at the University of California, Los Angeles.,Right track

Carlos said the incoming administration appears to be on the right track in its foreign policy, noting that Marcos previously said that he wanted to “enhance” the Philippines’ relationship with China.,“Pay attention to the word ‘enhanced’ because it means online insofar as foreign policy is concerned. It means that if the Duterte administration was engaged with China, it would increase the country’s engagement with Beijing,” Carlos said.,“It is only right to balance the American interest, the Chinese interest, and those of Russia and India. His trajectory on foreign policy is on the right track,” she added.,Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte sought close ties with China when he assumed office in 2016 amid the West Philippine Sea dispute in exchange for loans for his big-ticket infrastructure projects, though he repeatedly asserted before the international community the country’s sovereignty and maritime rights.,Duterte’s critics have said that Beijing became more aggressive in the South China Sea under the administration’s independent foreign policy.