Alan Peter Cayetano


Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano is a Filipino lawyer, diplomat, and politician who has served as the Senate Minority Leader since September 9, 2025, a post he previously held from 2010 to 2013. He has been a Senator of the Philippines since 2022, following a previous stint from 2007 to 2017. He served as the 26th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2019 to 2020 and as the 26th Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018.
Born and raised into a political family based in Taguig, Cayetano is the son of former Senator Rene Cayetano. He entered national politics in 1998 after being elected as the Representative of Taguig–Pateros, a post he held until 2007, when he was first elected to the Senate. He unsuccessfully ran for Vice President in the 2016 elections as the running mate of Rodrigo Duterte, who would win the presidency. He resigned from the Senate in 2017 to serve as Foreign Affairs Secretary, a role he held until 2018.
In 2019, Cayetano was elected back to the House of Representatives. During this stint, he was elected as the Speaker of the House. As Speaker, he became the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2019 SEA Games and was appointed Chairman of the Defeat COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Cayetano was elected back to the Senate for a third nonconsecutive term.

Early life

Cayetano was born in Mandaluyong to lawyer Renato "Compañero" Cayetano and German-American former school teacher Sandra Schramm. He was raised in Parañaque and moved to Taguig in 1991. Although he inherited United States citizenship by descent, he relinquished his U.S. citizenship in 1998.
Cayetano resides with his family in Bagumbayan, Taguig. His wife, Lani, is the incumbent mayor of Taguig and formerly represented the first and second districts of Taguig–Pateros at the House of Representatives of the Philippines. His older sister, Pia, is an incumbent Senator and formerly represented the second district of Taguig at the House of Representatives of the Philippines, where she was also a Deputy Speaker. His youngest brother, Lino, is a film and television director as well as a former congressman and mayor of Taguig, while his other brother Ren is a former councilor of Muntinlupa.

Education

Cayetano completed both his elementary and secondary education at De La Salle Santiago Zobel School. In the 1980s, Cayetano admitted to having nearly been expelled from high school due to him regularly joining his father Rene at the Batasang Pambansa instead of attending class.
In college, he studied political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman and graduated in 1993. He was on the UP Diliman University Student Council.
He then finished his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in 1997, graduating 2nd Honors. Thereafter, he was admitted to the Philippine bar in 1998.

Legislative changes

Most of the laws authored by Cayetano focus on education, persons with disabilities rights, political reforms, health, and environment. Some of the laws that he authored and co-authored during his first two terms as a Philippine Senator were:
  • Republic Act No. 10648 – Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2014. This provided scholarship grants to top graduates of all public high schools in state-owned universities and colleges.
  • Republic Act No. 9500 – University of the Philippines Charter Act of 2008.
  • Republic Act No. 10676 – Student-Athletes Protection Act. This law prohibits the commercialization of student-athletes.
  • Republic Act No. 7277 – Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. This law provides for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream society.
  • Republic Act No. 10928 – Amendment of the Philippine Passport Act. This extended the validity of the Philippine passport to ten years.

    Early career

Councilor of Taguig (1992–1995)

Cayetano, then a junior year college student at University of the Philippines, was elected as councilor of the then-municipality of Taguig in 1992. Elected at the age of 21, he was one of the youngest councilors in the country, and served alongside actor Rene Requiestas and six other councilors. He became Taguig's Majority Floor Leader and held various positions, such as the vice-chairperson of the People's Law Enforcement Board.
From 1992 to 1993, Cayetano concurrently served as the chairman of the National Capital Region Chapter of the National Movement of Young Legislators.

Vice mayor of Taguig (1995–1998)

Cayetano was elected vice mayor of Taguig in the 1995 local elections and served for one term.

House of Representatives (1998–2007)

Cayetano ran for the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 1998 as the representative of the lone district of Taguig–Pateros under the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino. He was the youngest elected representative at the 11th Congress at age 27.
In his first term as a neophyte legislator, Cayetano immediately held major roles and functions, such as being voted as the assistant majority leader. He was also chairman of the Oversight Committee on Bases Conversion and Sub-Committee on New Schools, and the vice-chairman of the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms.
During his second term in the 12th Congress, Cayetano became deputy majority leader and the vice-chairman of the Committee on Rules.
On his last term in the 13th Congress, he served as the Senior Deputy Minority Leader and an ex officio member of all standing House committees. He also became a fierce critic of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. In August 2006, he falsely accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of not disclosing the "hundreds of millions of dollars" that he allegedly stashed in the Munich bank HypoVereinsbank, to which he was sued for libel by Arroyo and other family members before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
By September 6, 2006, first gentleman Arroyo, his brother Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, and his sons Diosdado and Rep. Mikey Arroyo filed a complaint before the House Ethics Committee seeking Cayetano's expulsion from Congress for fabricating evidence and engaging in "improper conduct". By November 21, 2006, Cayetano issued his own complaint against Reps. Ignacio and Mikey Arroyo that sought their expulsion, accusing them of receiving monthly payola that amounts to "graft and corruption". Although the committee, as chaired by Bohol Rep. Roberto Cajes, found Arroyo's complaint to have "substantial and credible evidence" against Cayetano, the congressman's expulsion did not come to fruition.

Senate (2007–2017)

Cayetano ran for senator in 2007 under the Genuine Opposition coalition and won, placing 9th out of the 12 seats. He was elected Senate Minority Leader for the 15th Congress in 2010. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2013, running under the Team PNoy administration coalition.
At the start of the 16th Congress in 2013, Cayetano was elected as the new Senate Majority Floor Leader and was likewise appointed to chair the Senate Committee on Rules. He had participated in hearings probing the corruption allegations thrown against then-Vice President Jejomar Binay.

2016 vice presidential campaign

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, but 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 Duterte won the presidency, Cayetano lost to then-congresswoman Leni Robredo, placing third in both unofficial and official vote counts conducted by COMELEC and the Congress, respectively.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2017–2018)

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 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 assumed the post as foreign secretary and effectively resigned 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 took an "objective-based" approach in resolving the territorial disputes of the Philippines, which he described 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 defined as the continual issuing of public statements instead of privately negotiating the issues with the parties.
File:Secretary Tillerson Meets With Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano in Washington.jpg|thumb|left|Cayetano with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during the former's visit to Washington D.C., September 27, 2017
In January 2018, Filipino Congressman Gary Alejano revealed that the Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano had approved the Chinese Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to perform a scientific survey of the Philippine Rise, while disapproving a French research offer in the Rise. Under the agreement, majority of researchers must be Chinese. On the same month, China told Filipino counterparts that the Philippines has no right in the Philippine Rise. Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte's trusted spokesperson Harry Roque embraced and defended China's statement, causing outrage from various Filipino sectors.
In March 2018, Cayetano reiterated that the West Philippine Sea is "disputed", despite a 2016 decision by an international court backed by the United Nations declaring that the Philippines has the sole legal right on the resources of the West Philippine Sea, and which also deemed the Philippines as the internationally acknowledged country with jurisdiction on the area. File:Secretary Pompeo welcomes Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.png|thumb|right|Cayetano meets with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the former's visit to the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C., June 21, 2018 Cayetano cited the continued conflict over territories, specifically islands, which are not covered by the ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Cayetano took the stance that acknowledging the dispute was resolved by the 2016 ruling is not equal to giving up Philippine claims on the territory.
On October 9, 2018, President Duterte announced that Cayetano had planned to run in the May 2019 elections for the post of representative of Taguig–Pateros. He eventually resigned as Foreign Secretary on October 17, the last day of filing of certificates of candidacies. He was succeeded by former Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations Teodoro Locsin Jr. as Foreign Secretary on the same day.
His and his wife Lani's candidacies faced a disqualification case for not possessing the minimum residency qualification and claiming to live in separate residences as indicated on their respective COCs, which is not in accordance with Article 69 of the Family Code. The case was later dismissed on May 7, 2019. The couple later won the elections.