New Foreign Affairs, DSWD chiefs named

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has officially appointed Teodoro Locsin Jr. and retired military official Rolando Bautista as respective heads of the Foreign Affairs and Social Welfare departments.

Locsin and Bautista were previously named by Duterte as the next secretaries of Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Social Welfare and Development, but their appointment papers were signed only on Wednesday, October 17.

Locsin replaced former Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who will seek a seat at the House of Representatives in the 2019 mid-term elections.

Prior to his new stint as the Philippines' top diplomat, Locsin served as the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Locsin is a lawyer, politician, and a former journalist.

Bautista, on the other hand, retired as Army chief on October 15.

Bautista, a member of the Philippine Military Academy "Sandiwa" Class of 1985, was also named as Army commanding general in October 2017. (SunStar Philippines)