Diplomat named DFA chief

YASAY REPLACEMENT Foreign Undersecretary Enrique Manalo replaces Perfecto Yasay whose appointment as foreign secretary was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday named a veteran diplomat as temporary head of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), a day after the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) rejected his nominee for the top diplomatic post, Perfecto Yasay Jr., over a question of citizenship.

Mr. Duterte named Foreign Undersecretary for Policy Enrique Manalo as acting DFA secretary.

Reserved for Cayetano?

Manalo will serve as head of the department until Mr. Duterte appoints a new foreign secretary, according to presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella.

Mr. Duterte earlier said he would give the foreign affairs portfolio to his defeated vice presidential running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, after the expiration of the one-year ban on the appointment of losing candidates to positions in the government.

Abella, however, declined to comment when asked in a press briefing on Thursday if the top diplomatic post had been promised to Cayetano.

Despite his shattering defeat in last year’s vice presidential race, polling only 5.9 million votes, Cayetano is a constant fixture around Mr. Duterte, traveling with the President and even briefing journalists  on the Chief Executive’s meetings with world leaders.

Abella said Manalo was highly qualified to lead the DFA.

‘Transition man’

He described Manalo as an “excellent transition man,” as the diplomat had been “on top of many crucial issues” together with Yasay.

As for Yasay, Abella said reappointing him to another position in the government could be an option, but the matter had not been discussed yet.

Mr. Duterte himself said he did not know why the CA dumped Yasay.

He said he knew that Yasay went to the United States to seek asylum during martial law.

Mr. Duterte said Yasay was his roommate in college, and Yasay disappeared after the declaration of martial law because he was wanted by the authorities.

Yasay returned to the Philippines after the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Ready to serve

Prior to taking the No. 2 position in the DFA, Manalo served as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Belgium.

He also served as ambassador and permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva, and deputy permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations in New York.

He is the son of the late writer-diplomat Armando Manalo. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE