Introduction
Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano (born October 28, 1970) is a Filipino politician and diplomat who as of May 2017, serves as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. From 2007 to 2017, he served as a Senator of the Philippines; his father, Rene Cayetano, and older sister, Pia Cayetano, were also former senators.
Cayetano is also currently the chairman of the organizing committee for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, set to take place in the Philippines and the chairman of the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc.
Early life
Cayetano was born in Taguig to Senator Renato "Compañero" Cayetano and German-American former school teacher Sandra Schramm. He resides with his family in Bagumbayan, Taguig. His wife, Lani Cayetano, is currently the Mayor of Taguig. His older sister, Pia, is a former Senator (2004–2016) and is currently representing the lone district of Taguig at the House of Representatives, where she is also a Deputy Speaker. His youngest brother, Lino, is a film and television director and former congressman of Taguig, while his other brother Ren is a former councilor of Muntinlupa.
Political career
16th Congress
After the 2013 elections, at the start of the 16th Congress, Cayetano was elected as the new Senate Majority Floor Leader and was likewise appointed to chair the Senate Committee on Rules.
2016 elections
In a press event held in Davao City, Senator Cayetano announced that he would seek election for Vice President in the 2016 national elections under the Nacionalista Party (Cayetano did not mention who would be his Presidential running mate). On November 21, 2015, it was made official that Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte would be his running mate for the 2016 presidential elections. Although his running mate won the presidency, Cayetano was placed 3rd in both unofficial and official vote counts conducted by COMELEC and the Congress, respectively.
Department of Foreign Affairs
On May 10, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte announced that Cayetano was appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, following the expiration of the one-year appointment ban on losing candidates of the 2016 elections. Cayetano replaced acting secretary Enrique Manalo, who assumed the post in March 2017 when the Commission on Appointments's (CA) rejected President Duterte's ad interim appointment of Perfecto Yasay Jr. due to the latter's citizenship concerns.
His appointment to the post by President Duterte was approved by the CA's foreign affairs committee on May 17, 2017. Upon approval of the CA's plenary, he will assume the post as foreign secretary and effectively resign from his post as senator. On May 18, Cayetano was sworn in by President Duterte at the Malacañang of the South in Davao City.
As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Cayetano plans an "objective-based" approach in resolving the territorial disputes of the Philippines, which he describes as negotiation through the use of historical facts, such as the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to defend the Philippines' claims. He also vowed to avoid "microphone diplomacy", which he describes as the continual issuing of public statements instead of privately negotiating the issues with the parties.