Pres. Duterte appoints Cayetano as Pres. Duterte appoints Cayetano as next DFA chiefnext DFA chief

Cayetano’s appointment was signed just as the one-year appointment ban on losing candidates expired. (Photo: Alan Peter Cayetano/ Facebook)

MANILA–True to his promise, President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday appointed Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as the next Foreign Affairs Secretary.

In a pre-departure press briefing before embarking to Cambodia for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on ASEAN, the President said he had just signed Cayetano’s appointment paper.

“Dito sa DFA, I remember I signed an appointment just before I left my room, I saw the name of Senator Cayetano,” Duterte said.

Cayetano’s appointment was signed just as the one-year appointment ban on losing candidates expired.

The Senator ran and lost as Duterte’s running mate in the May 2016 presidential elections.

The President had repeatedly stated during interviews that he would offer the Foreign Affairs portfolio to Cayetano once the one-year appointment ban lapses.

Prior to his appointment, the Senator is already slated to join Duterte in Cambodia as part of the official Philippine delegation.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is currently in Geneva, Switzerland for the Universal Period Review of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.