Cayetano elected chair of Senate committee on foreign relations

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (INQUIRER PHOTO)

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who has been considered for the foreign secretary post, has been elected chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier offered Cayetano the Department of Foreign Affairs chief position, which the senator could assume after the one-year ban on appointment of losing candidates.

READ: Cabinet choices Duterte’s own ‘KKK’

Cayetano was Duterte’s running mate who lost to Vice President Leni Robredo.

Apart from Cayetano, the Senate on Tuesday also elected Senators Nancy Binay and Gringo Honasan as chairs of the committees on cultural communities, and peace, unification and reconciliation, respectively.

Binay and Honasan are both part of the new “supermajority” group in the Senate.

Cayetano, meanwhile, said he would remain independent while observing the “actual support” for Duterte either from the new majority or minority group in the Senate.

READ: Cayetano: I will be independent for a few days