Luli takes job as WWF policy officer

DAVAO CITY – Presidential daughter Evangeline Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo has a new job.

Starting Oct. 1, Arroyo took a full-time job as policy officer of the barely six months old Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental conservation.

“I have always been into various programs involving the conservation of the environment,” said the young Arroyo, who is tasked to build support among the governments of the seven marine resources rich countries in the Indo-Pacific region that make up the triangle.

Arroyo, who has a masters’ degree in International Relations from Georgetown University, accepted the job after she put on hold a promising career in the foreign service when her mother assumed the presidency in 2001. She had topped the Department of Foreign Affairs’ examination for career diplomats.

Arroyo arrived here yesterday to attend the Senior Officials and Ministers Meeting of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) geo-economic grouping.

Arroyo’s job involves actively pursuing the CTI on coral reefs, fisheries and food security.

WWF-Philippines vice chairman Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said Arroyo’s task would require her to be traveling most of the time and interacting with key government officials and corporate leaders in various international venues like the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and BIMP-EAGA.

“She is the right person for the job because she has always been a conservationist at heart. She has been our volunteer for many years already,” Tan said.

Tan also said the young Arroyo’s being the presidential daughter worked to her disadvantage when her name was submitted for the position, and there was discussion up to the level of the WWF board in Switzerland. But what prevailed was her expertise in foreign service.

Arroyo’s insistence that she be treated as an ordinary citizen and her refusing security details also endeared her to the WWF board, said Tan.

As for her compensation, Tan said as per Arroyo’s request, she receives 40 percent less than what her foreign counterparts in other WWF projects get.