President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra as the new secretary of the Department of Justice.

Guevarra took his oath of office shortly after Duterte announced on Thursday in an event in Malacanang that he accepted the resignation of Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Guevarra was appointed ad interim because Congress is on recess.

Prior to Aguirre's removal as DOJ chief, he was under fire after state prosecutors, who were under the DOJ, dismissed the complaints against two suspected drug lords.

Guevarra is a lawyer and an economist. He took up law at the Ateneo de Manila and graduate studies in economics at the University of the Philippines. He placed second in the 1985 bar examinations. Celerina Monte/DMS