In less than five minutes, the appointment of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs was approved on Wednesday by a panel of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).
A motion to approve Cayetano’s appointment was immediately made as soon as the CA’s committee on foreign affairs, chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson, convened at exactly 9 a.m.
Cayetano was not even called yet to sit in the CA when a panel member moved for his confirmation.
The CA’s recommendation will be transmitted to the plenary for either approval or rejection.
The approval of the CA panel came exactly a week after Cayetano’s appointment was announced by President Rodrigo Duterte on May 10, a day after the expiration of the one-year appointment ban on defeated candidates.
READ: Duterte names Cayetano as next DFA chief, Año as DILG head
Cayetano was Duterte’s running mate in the May 2016 elections.
Once confirmed by the CA, Cayetano would be deemed resigned effectively from the Senate.
“Wala na. Deemed resigned. Once confirmed siya so appointed siya, he will assume as DFA secretary. That’s it. Effectively resigned na siya sa Senate,” Senator Panfilo Lacson said in an interview with reporters Tuesday.
Lacson chairs the CA’s committee on foreign affairs that endorsed the plenary approval of Cayetano’s appointment.
Cayetano would take the place of former Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., whose ad interim appointment was rejected in March by the Commission because of a citizenship issue. CBB
READ: CA rejects appointment of Yasay