RP foreign minister quitting

RP foreign minister quitting

PHILIPPINES: Vice President Teofisto Guingona, embroiled in policy differences with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has bowed to pressure and is definitely quitting as foreign minister, a newspaper said on Sunday.

Guingona, a staunch nationalist, has long expressed his reservations about the presence of U.S. military forces to train Filipino troops in fighting Muslim guerrillas.

The 73-year-old veteran politician said in remarks to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that his resignation was a "foregone conclusion" and that he would leave his foreign ministry post before the opening of Congress on July 22.

The presidential palace was engulfed in a political fiasco when it released a letter on June 20 signed by Arroyo announcing that Guingona was relinquishing his job as foreign minister.

The Inquirer said that in place of Guingona, Arroyo planned to appoint opposition senator Blas Ople, a foreign policy expert, to head the foreign ministry. --Reuters