AFTER five Cabinet members and other lower-ranking appointees stepped down from office to seek posts in the 2019 midterm elections, President Rodrigo Duterte may announce his new appointees to executive branch offices next week, Malacañang said Thursday, October 25.

"He (Duterte) said he will soon announce it, most likely next week," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in an interview with Palace reporters.

Five Cabinet secretaries and five other lower-ranking appointees of Duterte have filed their certificates of candidacy before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the 2019 elections.

Under Comelec rules, government officials are deemed resigned from their respective posts once they file their bids for elective posts.

The five Cabinet officials who are seeking elective posts are former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go, former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, and former Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino.

Other Duterte appointees who will also run in the 2019 elections include former Bureau of Corrections director-general Ronald dela Rosa, former Agriculture Undersecretary Jose Gabriel La viña, former Social Welfare Undersecretary Francisco Moreno Domagoso, and former Transportation Undersecretary Thomas Orbos.

So far, a Palace memorandum dated October 11 delegated Panelo as Duterte's new spokesperson.

On October 17, Duterte also signed the appointment paper of Teodoro Locsin Jr., who was named the new Foreign Affairs chief.

In a speech delivered on October 24, Duterte also named his security aide, Police Senior ainspector Sofia Loren Deliu, as his new close-in aide. Deliu, however, would not hold a Cabinet rank. (SunStar Philippines)