Cayetano Pays Tribute to Filipino-Americans for Keeping RP-US Ties Strong

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano meets with United States Solicitor General Noel Francisco at the Department of Justice in Washington DC. The Secretary congratulated Francisco, who is the highest ranking Filipino-American in the Trump Administration.

02 October 2017 - Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano paid tribute to Filipino-Americans for helping ensure that the bond between the Philippines and the United States would always remains strong.

"We are thankful to the thousands of Filipino-Americans for keeping our people-to-people ties with the US strong," Secretary Cayetano said after meeting with US Solicitor General Noel Francisco in Washington, DC, last week.

"Filipino-Americans are one of the reasons why we are confident that our relations with the US will always bounce back despite the challenges that we encounter when the interests of our two countries diverge," the Secretary said.

At the same time, Secretary Cayetano hailed Solicitor General Francisco and other Filipino-Americans currently serving in the Trump Administration for bringing pride and honor to the Philippines.

"We are proud to see Solicitor General Francisco and other Americans with Filipino heritage holding very important positions in President Trump's
Administration," the Secretary said.

Solicitor General Francisco is currently the highest ranking Filipino-American in the Trump Administration who was appointed to his position in March and confirmed by the Senate in September.

According to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC, Solicitor General Francisco is the son of Dr. Nemesio Francisco, a graduate of the University of Sto. Tomas who migrated from Quezon City to New York.

The other Filipino-Americans in the Trump Administration are lawyer George Conway III, head of the civil division of the Department of Justice and Ninio Joseph Fetalvo, White House Assistant Press Secretary.

According to the Embassy, there are approximately 3.4 million Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the United States.

The Secretary was accompanied during the meeting by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Luis Montales, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Maria Andrelita Austria and Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Patrick Chuasoto. END