Alan Peter Cayetano at the proclamation of the winning Senatorial candidates at the PICC on May 18, 2022. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN news
MANILA — Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was officially proclaimed senator-elect on Wednesday, as he warned the public to be wary of the "devil's plans.""
Cayetano garnered the 7th highest votes among all the senatorial bets in the 2022 polls.
In his speech during the proclamation ceremony at the PICC, he thanked the Lord, who he credited for his return to the Senate.
"The devil also has plans for us, plans to kill, steal, and destroy. Nasa kamay natin (it's in our hands) whether we will follow God's plans, especially for the hungry, or whether we will be part of the destroying and killing," he said.
Cayetano served as senator from 2007 to 2017, his second term cut short when President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him as foreign affairs secretary.
The lawmaker ran alongside Duterte in the 2016 national elections as his vice president but lost.
In the 2019 midterm polls, Cayetano won a House seat and led the chamber for 15 months in a term-sharing deal with House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
Cayetano had sought to extend his stint, citing the 2021 budget deliberations. But 186 lawmakers elected Velasco into power.
In 2019, Cayetano also served as chairman of the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC), which drew criticism after some members of foreign delegations complained of their accommodations and delayed transportation.
Cayetano will join his sister Pia in the Senate's 19th Congress.