Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay’s confirmation seemed to go through a lot of scrutiny at the Commission on Appointments on Wednesday — and a question on his citizenship was apparently a sticking point. The commission put Yasay’s confirmation on hold until next week.
Before Yasay faced the commission, there were rumors in social media that he has dual citizenship and and used a U.S. passport The secretary denied the rumors.
Yasay explained to commission members he never became a citizen of the United States, although he was a permanent resident there.
Yasay was born in Kidapawan, North Cotabato. He studied law in the University of the Philippines and passed the bar exam in 1972.
In 1978, Yasay went to the U.S, where he eventually became a member of the bar of the state of New York, and the bar of the United States Supreme Court.
He also admitted that he was a green card holder.
He admitted applying for naturalization but his application was denied because he had plans to return to the Philippines.
Yasay also said he moved out of the U.S. in 1986 and that, as of 1987, he had already abandoned his permanent residency there.
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Apart from his citizenship, the commission also grilled Yasay about his stand on the South China Sea maritime dispute with China.
Yasay told commission members, he believes the issue will not be resolved under the Duterte administration.
He said there are border issues the Philippines must look into — plus, the country is boosting ties with China.
On the subject of Overseas Filipino Workers, Yasay said there are 73 convicted Filipinos in different countries.
Among them are 41 in Malaysia, 23 in Saudi, and two each in China and the U.S.
Most of these OFWs are convicted for drug trafficking.
Yasay said the problem lies in restriction policies abroad that make it difficult to monitor OFWs and their activties.
But Yasay said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is doing all it can do for OFWs. He said the DFA is now trying to save one Filipino on death row in Kuwait.
But after all the questioning, the CA moved to hold Yasay’s confirmation until next week.
CNN Philippines’ Cecille Lardazabal contributed to this report.
