Año takes over DILG next month

MANILA, Philippines - Armed Forces chief of staff Eduardo Año is set to assume as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) next month.

Año told The STAR yesterday he would leave the military earlier than his mandatory retirement in October because of his appointment. 

President Duterte announced the appointment of Año as DILG chief on May 10 before leaving for Cambodia to attend the World Economic Forum on ASEAN.

Año replaces Ismael Sueno, who was fired last month on allegations of corruption. 

Catalino Cuy is the current DILG officer-in-charge.

Año said he is ready to lead the DILG and address the various concerns of local government officials as well as that of the Philippine National Police. 

“I have dealt with the Abu Sayyaf, the New People’s Army rebels and other groups who are harder to deal with. I can and I am ready to deal with the local government officials,” he told The STAR.

The President announced his pick for the DILG amid speculations that former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would get the post after the year-long ban on the appointment of those who ran but lost in the last elections.

Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is expected to breeze through his confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments (CA) as foreign affairs secretary.

Cayetano will face the CA today a week after Duterte announced his appointment also on May 10.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who heads the CA’s committee on foreign affairs, has aired his full support for Cayetano’s appointment and said he was willing to waive all the documentary requirements for the incoming Cabinet member as provided by the CA’s internal rules.

Lacson added he would also ask his colleagues to allow Cayetano to be confirmed by acclamation – meaning he would no longer be subjected to nominal voting as what is normally done in the CA.

Cayetano was Duterte’s runningmate in last year’s general elections.

Apart from stints in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Cayetano was also a member of the CA prior to his appointment as foreign affairs secretary.

The appointment of Cayetano to the post did not come as a surprise as he has been groomed to take over the agency since the President assumed office.

Cayetano has spent a significant amount of time accompanying the President on his official functions, both here and overseas.

One of his most recent assignments was to head the Philippine delegation for the United Nations Human Rights Council’s review of the Philippines in Geneva, Switzerland to defend the country’s human rights record amid reports of extrajudicial killings in connection with the drug war.

Cayetano’s appointment would have come earlier had it not been for the one year ban provided by law for candidates in an election.

Once confirmed, Cayetano would have to resign as senator, leaving his seat vacant until the next elections in 2019.

The previous foreign affairs chief – Perfecto Yasay Jr. – was rejected by the CA last March due to questions about his citizenship.

Members of the CA reprimanded Yasay for lying about his American citizenship during his confirmation hearings.

Lacson said he had clarified with Cayetano the issue of citizenship that might be raised against him as Yasay’s successor. Cayetano, whose mother is German-American, said he renounced his US citizenship in 1998.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said it had been a tradition not to give a former member of Congress a hard time at the CA.

Cayetano, who has been frequently absent at the Senate, attended session for the last time yesterday and said he was emotional about assuming his new post.

“I’m feeling very sentimental because my life’s work was legislation for 25 years,” Cayetano told reporters.  – Edith Regalado, Marvin Sy, Paolo Romero