Duterte To Appoint Cayetano As Next DFA Secretary By Mid 2017
On Thursday (December 29, 2016), President Rodrigo Duterte said that Senator Alan Peter Cayetano will be the next Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary.
The president responds to the question if he will give a position to his former running mate Alan Cayetano. Duterte made the statement after DFA secretary Perfecto Yasay announced that he will return to America to fulfill his obligations.
The government profile of Perfecto Yasay shows that he is a visiting professor at the Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. Duterte said that he already talked and plead Yasay for they were roommate during law school but the DFA secretary is in the contract as a professor.
Duterte had no plan to give the post to former Senator Bongbong Marcos, who also ran for vice president during the presidential campaign before the May 2016 elections. He is the brother of Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos and the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The president also admitted that he owed Imee Marcos for supporting him during the presidential campaign. Duterte also explained that he doesn’t want to make promises for Bongbong and he doesn’t have a plan to give government position for the young Marcos.
Bongbong wanted to have a post at the Department of Tourism but Duterte explained that Marcos could not be appointed yet. “Ang gusto niya kasi sa (He wanted) DOT, but I cannot wait for him,” said Duterte. “I have to move. I have to start. We have to hit the ground running,” said by Duterte quoted by CNN Philippines.
Both Cayetano and Marcos are losing candidates were not allowed to take any government position until a year after the election, according to the ruling. The losing candidates can obtain the post in the government until the middle of 2017.
Duterte said that he’s not considering another post for Vice President Leni Robredo even she is a member of the opposite party. Robredo quit as vice president after she was prohibited from attending cabinet meetings.