President Rodrigo Duterte will announce his new Cabinet appointees next week following the resignation of five Cabinet officials to run in the 2019 midterm elections, Malacañang said Friday.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President will reveal the new appointees’ exact assignments in the following days.
“Their appointments will be released later on. The President has said he will announce it next week,” Panelo said.
He made his statement even as the rift within President Duterte’s party may force the likes of Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, Christopher “Bong” Go, and Ronald dela Rosa to run as independent senatorial candidates, the leader of a PDP-Laban faction said Friday.
Lawyer Rogelio Garcia said Thursday he was confident the Commission on Elections would favor his faction over the group led by Pimentel, who is seeking reelection under PDP-Laban.
Five of Duterte’s officials have already expressed their interest in seeking elective posts in the upcoming elections.
The five Cabinet officials who have sought elective posts are former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go, former Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque Jr., former Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, and former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr.
Under the rules of the Commission on Elections, sitting government officials will be deemed resigned from their respective posts the moment they file their certificates of candidacy.
Earlier this week, Duterte announced the appointment of several people to serve under his administration.
On Oct. 17, he appointed former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Teodoro Locsin Jr. to be the new Foreign Affairs chief.
On Wednesday, he also appointed Police Senior Inspector Sofia Loren Deliu as Presidential Aide, but she will not hold a Cabinet title.
The President also appointed Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and broadcaster Ramon Tulfo as special envoys to the European Union and China, respectively, the following day.
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