Ex-DFA chief and DG columnist Perfecto Yasay Jr. passes away

Former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. has died, according to his wife Cecile Joaquin Yasay.

Yasay, 73, died at 7:26 a.m. of pneumonia related to his cancer.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) also announced his death in a separate post.

“We deeply regret the news of the passing of… the current Chairperson of PCU Board of Trustees and former DFA Secretary Atty. Perfecto Yasay, Jr.,” UCCP said.

Philippine Christian University (PCU) is an affiliate of UCCP.

While he was born in Mindanao, Yasay traced his roots to Iloilo and even earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, major in political science, at the Central Philippine University in Jaro district in 1967.

He earned his law degree at the University of the Philippines and has MBA units in business studies from Ateneo de Manila University.

Yasay became a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Civil, criminal, and administrative litigation, public advocacy, corporation law, and election law were among his areas of expertise.

While in New York, he was managing director of the Maceda Philippine News from 1983 to 1987 and senior partner at two law firms—Maceda, Yasay & Tolentino, Esqs., and Yasay & De Castro, Esqs.—from 1979 to 1990.

In the Philippines, he was commissioner of San Jose, Yasay & Santos Law Offices from 1987 to 1993.

In 1993, he was assigned as associate commissioner of SEC. He chaired the commission from 1995 to 2000.

Yasay was among those who testified in the impeachment trial against President Joseph Estrada on charges of corruption. The probe led to the ouster of Estrada, known as EDSA People Power II in 2001.

Yasay was also a columnist of Daily Guardian up until he was appointed foreign affairs secretary.

He accepted the offer of President Rodrigo Duterte to join his Cabinet on May 18, 2016.

During his tenure, he represented the Duterte administration’s policy of an “independent foreign policy” distancing the Philippines from the United States.

Yasay was to serve the post until mid-2017, when Duterte planned to appoint his running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, as his successor.

On March 8, 2017, however, Yasay’s appointment was rejected by a unanimous vote of 15–0 by the Commission on Appointments due to questions about his Philippine citizenship status after a period of United States citizenship.