Medialdea government caretaker when Rody visits Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines – Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea will head the caretaker government while President Duterte goes on a two-day working visit in Vietnam beginning Wednesday.

Asked why Vice President Leni Robredo was not tapped to lead the caretaker government in Duterte’s absence, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said Medialdea would be the President’s partner in running the government.

“He (Medialdea) will run the affairs of the Office of the President,” Andanar said in Filipino in an interview over dzRB yesterday.

Robredo is the next in line to Duterte and is a Cabinet member, being chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

In Vietnam, Andanar said the President would be meeting the Filipino and the business communities aside from government-to-government talks.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez has reportedly prepared a program related to the meeting with businessmen in Vietnam but its details have not been released yet.

Earlier, Andanar said issues surrounding the South China Sea would be among those that would be discussed by the President when he meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Vietnam is among the claimants of some parts of the South China Sea. The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have their separate claims.

The Philippines won its case against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague last July.