 By 1966, Salas, also known affectionately as "Paeng," was recruited to a Cabinet position as executive secretary of President Ferdinand E. Marcos.While executive secretary, Salas was named by Marcos as chief action officer of the National Rice Sufficiency Program and was credited for the dramatic increase in rice production whose shortfall perennially plagued the country.But due to irreconcilable differences with President Ferdinand E. Marcos, he resigned and accepted a position to become the first executive director of United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in 1969 (The agency is now known as the United Nations Population Fund and is led by an undersecretary general).