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Tag: foreign service

Will it finally be Cayetano to DFA despite Arroyo’s objection?

Pres.  Duterte and Sen Alan Peter Cayetano in the Presidential plane returning from a state visit to Malaysia on Nov. 11, 2016. With them is Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go. Malacañang photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.
Pres. Duterte and Sen Alan Peter Cayetano in the Presidential plane returning from a state visit to Malaysia on Nov. 11, 2016. With them is Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go. Malacañang photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.

It looks like Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano will finally be the foreign secretary come May when the one-year election ban for those who ran in the last elections would expire.

Although the President reiterated last December his offer to his running mate made last May after the elections, no one was sure given the unpredictability of the hazy political alignments in the Senate where the brashness of Cayetano might be needed.

There’s also the possibility of Vice President Leni Robredo getting disqualified together with the rest who ran under the Liberal Party if the Supreme Court decides that the Commission on Election erred in extending the deadline for the filing of the Statement of (Elections) Contributions and Expenditures.

‘Please let Romulo go’: foreign service corps urges

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Romulo, loyal to Gloria to the end
Romulo, loyal to Gloria to the end
The victory of Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino gave the Foreign Service corps a sense of hope that the winds of change he promised during the campaign would revitalize the department that had degenerated under the watch of Gloria Arroyo’s lackey, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

But their hopes have been dashed when sources close to Aquino relayed the message that Romulo would be retained.

It’s demoralization time again for the country’s global frontliners.

It’s bad enough that Romulo is incompetent. What is worse is that he has been the face of the Arroyo government to the world throughout these years of corruption and human rights violations. He defended Arroyo in international fora amidst accusations of cheating in the 2004 election, extra-judicial killings, and massive corruption.