President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos have flown out to Rome, Italy to attend the funeral rites of Pope Francis on Saturday, April 26. In his absence, the president has designated three cabinet officials as government “caretakers”: Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Conrado Estrella III.
According to the Philippine News Agency, the caretaker committee is authorized to act on the president’s behalf in administering executive functions, “except on matters constitutionally required to be decided by the president himself or those involving national security, including the organization of the military and police.” All their decisions must be unanimous or referred to the president in case of disagreement.
Former cabinet member Vice President Sara Duterte was designated caretaker in May 2024 when Marcos flew to Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual inter-governmental security conference. In June 2024, Duterte stepped down from her positions as education secretary and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) vice chairperson, effectively resigning from the presidential cabinet.
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Bersamin previously served in the Supreme Court, first as an associate justice from 2009 to 2018, and then as chief justice from 2018 to 2019. In 2020, he was appointed Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) chairman by former President Rodrigo Duterte. In 2022, he became the executive secretary of the Philippines.
Remulla served as congressman from 2004 to 2022, representing Cavite province and taking the positions of Luzon deputy House speaker from 2010 to 2013 and senior deputy majority leader from 2019 to 2022. He took a break from lawmaking to serve as Cavite governor from 2016 to 2019. He has served as secretary of the DOJ since June 2022.
Estrella represented the sixth district of Pangasinan from 1987 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2010. From 2013 to 2022, he served as Abono party-list representative and became deputy House speaker in 2019. In 2022, Marcos tapped him to head DAR. His grandfather, Conrado Estrella Sr., also served as DAR secretary from 1971 to 1986, under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
