The man is insistent: After his rejection by the Commission on Appointments, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. insists he did not lie in asserting that he did not hold a United States passport.
Records from the US Embassy in Manila however showed that Yasay only formally renounced his US citizenship on June 28, 2016—less than a year ago—just before Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office and weeks after he had accepted the Cabinet post offered to him.
Asked about these during his confirmation hearing at the CA, Yasay gave a convoluted answer about “having no information about that allegation.” Days letter, in a television interview, he said he did have an American passport, after all.
He also split hairs about his citizenship, saying that even if he took his oath, he was not necessarily a US citizen “ if precisely the basis upon which the grant of American citizenship is flawed and is defective.”
Fortunately he convinced no one but himself that he was telling the truth. The commission rejected his appointment outright and Mr. Duterte named an official to take Yasay’s place at the soonest time.
But in a social media post, Yasay said he was at peace at everything he had said and leaves it to God to judge him on that score. He says he looks forward to spending more time with family—and getting a haircut.
Whatever Yasay decides to do with his free time, and however often he defends his actions, we can only be relieved that there is one less liar in government service, not least of all a man supposed to be our face before the international community.
We derive some wicked satisfaction out of the supreme irony of Yasay’s difficulties with the renewal of his Philippine passport given his previous high-profile position. Then again, we cannot say he did not have it coming.
These days Yasay has degenerated into a sorry example: Of how not to be sloppy with due diligence among government appointees, of how to not accept or seek a job when you know you are not qualified for it, and how to have the grace and humility to just say we committed wrong instead of insisting on your version of the truth.
Yasay did not lie. Sure. He just revealed his true colors.