Facing questions, Yasay back in Senate for confirmation bid

DFA Sec. Perfecto Yasay.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. returned to the Senate on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments (CA) amid lingering questions on his citizenship.

Yasay first appeared before the CA’s committee on foreign affairs last February 22 where he denied he became an American citizen and that he owned a US passport.

READ: Yasay admits naturalization try, but insists he isn’t US citizen

But in various interviews with the media, he admitted he was issued a “naturalization certificate” and a US passport by the US government.

“Oh yeah, I did not only have a US passport, I had a naturalization certificate which I all returned to the authorities,” Yasay said in an interview at the Senate Tuesday.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer also reported last February 27 that based on documents it had obtained, Yasay became an American citizen on November 24, 1986 and sought to renounce it in 1993 but failed to reacquire his Philippine citizenship.

READ: Yasay: American, Filipino or stateless?

Yasay formally renounced his US citizenship at the US Embassy in Manila only on June 28, 2016, or just two days before President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him to the Cabinet, the same report said. IDL