Senator Cayetano is next foreign affairs secretary – Duterte
Manila, Philippines – Senator Alan Peter Cayetano will become the next Foreign Affairs Secretary, President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed Wednesday.
Cayetano’s appointment paper received the president’s signature.
“Dito sa DFA, I remember I signed an appointment just before I left my room, I saw the name of Senator Cayetano,” President Duterte informed reporters before flying to Cambodia.
Senator Cayetano’s appointment was signed just as the one-year appointment ban after the elections ended.
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The post was offered to Senator Cayetano after Duterte won a landslide victory last year. In December of 2016, Duterte reiterated his promise, ABS CBN reported.
Assuming the post as Foreign Affairs Secretary would mean that the current senator has to renounce his Senate seat four years into his term. Cayetano succeeded in his Senate re-election bid in 2013, which means his 6-year term as senator will end in 2019, the report added.
The first foreign affairs secretary under the Duterte administration was Perfecto Yasay Jr. However, the congress rejected his appointment because of his citizenship issues.
Currently, career diplomat Enrique Manalo acts as the secretary of foreign affairs.
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