As promised, President Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 national elections, Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano, will ultimately replace Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. in 2017.
The President himself made this disclosure during a television interview yesterday.
Sen. Cayetano, who lost the vice presidential race to then Camarines Sur Third District Rep. Leni Robredo in the May 9 polls, will take over the Department of Foreign Affairs portfolio once the one-year ban on the appointment of losing candidates has lapsed.
Secretary Yasay, on the other hand, is expected to return to his teaching chores in Hawaii.
According to President Duterte, he only pleaded for Yasay, his room mate at the dormitory in Manila when they were law students at the University of the Philippines, to be the foreign affairs chief in holdover capacity. The President apparently already promised the post to Cayetano after he won the presidency.
“Allan would be coming in to take his post,” said Duterte. (Roy Mabasa)