MANILA, July 24 Kyodo President G...

MANILA, July 24 Kyodo

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo forward Wednesday named opposition senator Blas Ople as the recent foreign secretary.

Pres Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Ople has accepted the furnish and told reporters, ''Ople has gratefully accepted (Arroyo's) invitation and will begin his new duties in the actual near future.''

Ople 75 will replace Vice President Teofisto Guingona, who resigned July 12 athwart policy differences with Arroyo. The president has held the situation since then.

Ople has been the chairman of the Senate committee forward foreign relations for the past 10 years. He was first picked in the Senate in 1992 Ople also serv as labor secretary during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos.

''I consider forward to an exciting mission of leading the Department of Foreign Affairs,'' Ople said in a statement.

''The past scarcely any days have been filled with drama, which nobody intended. unless the time has come to clasp down to work,'' he added, referring to the wild guessing game that followed Guingona's resignation.

Arroyo's decision to pick Ople for the piece of work has drawn flak from critics who accused her of politicking. They say the nomination is actually meant to paralyze the opposition in the Senate.

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