Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte revealed on Tuesday, October 9, that Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano is eyeing an elective position in the May 2019 elections.
“Alan Peter Cayetano is also running and (Guiling) Mamondiong at TESDA is also running,” Duterte said in a Palace press conference as reported by Rappler.
The president said that Cayetano will run as a Taguig City representative. Consequently, Cayetano would have to resign by October 17, the last day of filing of certificates of candidacies for the elections.
According to Senator Cynthia Villar, incumbent Taguig Representative Pia Cayetano — the DFA secretary’s sister — will run for senator next year.
Duterte said he had found a replacement for the foreign secretary. However, the chief executive chose not to name the new DFA head just yet.
“I have a name. He agreed, but he did not authorize me to name him now,” Duterte said.
Aside from Cayetano, Duterte confirmed that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) chief Guiling Mamondiong is also seeking for an elective post.
Other Cabinet members who were running in May 2019 are Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John Castriciones, Presidential Political Adviser Francis Tolentino, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go, and Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque.
Duterte to shuffle cabinet positions
Since a lot of his cabinet members will run in the 2019 elections, Duterte said that he will most like rearranged their designations.
Duterte said that he had picked Chief Presidential Counsel Salvador Panelo to be his press secretary.
“I’m going to reorganize. Press secretary,” Duterte replied when asked on what position he’ll grant Panelo.
Duterte said that given his plan for Panelo, he would need to look for a new chief Palace counsel. However, current press secretary Martin Andanar would become a consultant instead.
“He will remain a consultant. So many things they have to reconfigure in PTV4, many changes there probably to make it more responsive,” Duterte said.
Duterte also revealed that besides running for Senate, Roque had other reasons why he deemed it necessary to resign.
“He said he would resign because he did not know I was in the hospital. He was not informed. He felt he was placed in a bad light like he was lying,” Duterte said.
The president knew that Roque felt bad when he was kept out of the loop. However, it became even more confusing when Duterte said that Roque won’t run anymore.
“Hindi na siya tatakbo. Hindi ko na alam kung saan siya ilalagay (He isn’t running anymore so now I don’t know where to put him),” the president added.
The current presidential communications secretary had earlier confirmed that Roque was offered the position of press secretary.
