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After breezing through CA, Cayetano is officially DFA chief

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Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/news/03/03/cayetano-030317.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. <cite>File Photo</cite></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments as foreign affairs Secretary. </p><p>Senator Panfilo &quot;Ping&quot; Lacson, the chair of the CA Foreign Affairs Committee, endorsed Cayetano&#x27;s appointment after what he dubbed as &quot;probably the shortest <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/17/17/cayetano-gets-ca-panel-nod-in-just-minutes">public hearing</a>&quot; on Wednesday. </p><p>Senators Ralph Recto, JV Ejercito, and Juan Miguel Zubiri, and CA Vice Chairman Ronald Zamora threw their weight behind Lacson&#x27;s endorsement.</p><p>The motion for Cayetano&#x27;s appointment met no objection, making him the official Secretary of Foreign Affairs.</p><p>President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 said he would offer the foreign affairs portfolio to Cayetano, his running mate, after the one-year appointment ban on defeated candidates lapses. Duterte made true his promise earlier this month. </p><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS/videos/10155124489335168/" data-width="auto"> </div><p>Cayetano has been a fixture in Duterte&#x27;s foreign trips. He also defended the human rights record of the administration&#x27;s war on drugs during a review of the United Nations. </p><p>&quot;I will do my best na hindi kayo mapahiya,&quot; he said in a speech after getting the CA panel&#x27;s backing. </p><p>Accepting the foreign affairs portfolio means Cayetano would have to abandon 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.</p><p>Duterte’s first foreign affairs secretary, Perfecto Yasay Jr., had to leave his post after his appointment was rejected by Congress due to questions about his citizenship.</p><p>Yasay was replaced by Enrique Manalo, a career diplomat, as acting secretary. </p><p>Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Cayetano vowed to use an &quot;objective-based&quot; approach in resolving the country&#x27;s territorial claims to the West Philippine Sea.</p><blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="tl">DFA Sec. <a href="https://twitter.com/alanpcayetano">@alanpcayetano</a>: Magiging &#x27;objective-based&#x27; tayo sa pakikitungo sa China. <a href="https://t.co/Ul3Uxvm1iK">pic.twitter.com/Ul3Uxvm1iK</a> | via <a href="https://twitter.com/ZandroDZMM">@ZandroDZMM</a></p>— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) <a href="https://twitter.com/DZMMTeleRadyo/status/864664134784131072">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote><script async="" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Cayetano also said that &quot;integrating&quot; non-traditional media practitioners into DFA initiatives is among his priorities. </p>

<p>Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments as foreign affairs Secretary. </p>

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments as foreign affairs Secretary.

After breezing through CA, Cayetano is officially DFA chief

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After breezing through CA, Cayetano is officially DFA chief

Jamaine Punzalan,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 17, 2017 02:46 PM PHT

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Updated May 17, 2017 05:07 PM PHT

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Alan PEter Cayetano

DFA

foreign affairs

CA

Commission on Appointments

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