Philippines' U.N. envoy named foreign secretary as Duterte eyes cabinet revamp

Reuters

Published Oct 12, 2018 12:01AM ET

Philippines' U.N. envoy named foreign secretary as Duterte eyes cabinet revamp

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' ambassador to the United Nations was named the country's new foreign secretary on Friday, the first of several cabinet changes expected ahead of mid-term elections next year.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he asked ambassador Teodoro Locsin to replace Alan Peter Cayetano, who planned to seek a seat in the lower house of Congress. Cayetano was a three-term congressman and a two-term senator before he joined the cabinet last year.

"Can you please call Teddy Boy Locsin and ask him if I can mention his name here," Duterte said to an aide during a news conference in Manila.

Locsin, a former three-term congressman and a newspaper publisher, tweeted later on Friday: "I was asked. I said yes."

Candidates began registering on Thursday for the mid-term elections scheduled for May 2019 and seen as a referendum on Duterte's administration.

Five more cabinet members are expected to quit and run for elective positions, including the ministers for agriculture and agrarian reform, a political adviser and a special assistant.

Duterte's press spokesman Harry Roque is also leaving to run for public office next year, the president's office said. Roque was replaced by the president's lawyer, Salvador Panelo.