(UPDATE) Arroyo confirms Cabinet revamp
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 08:50:00 04/29/2008
Filed Under: Governance
CEBU CITY, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has confirmed a looming shake-up in her Cabinet in the coming weeks, but kept mum on who among the officials would be affected.
"Yes," she told reporters over dinner Monday in her visit at the Malacañang sa Sugbo when asked to confirm reports of changes in her official family.
Asked anew who among her officials would change posts, the President gave out a hearty laugh and replied, "Secret."
The President said, “No more, no more, no more” when asked if some Cabinet members were going to be removed and given ambassadorial posts to accommodate new faces in her administration.
“All speculation, hahaha,” she said, and quickly added: “No, [you] cannot guess. No more [details], that's it. No more questions on the revamp.”
When reporters reminded her that she had said, “yes,” she retorted: “Can I take it back?”
Presidential Management Staff Chief Cerge Remonde, who was standing behind her, looked amused, while in one corner, a tanned Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and spouse Jinky sat idly by.
Pacqiao went diving in waters off Cebu before calling on the President.
Arroyo divulged the impending revamp in her Cabinet at 9 p.m. Monday.
When she faced the media, the President managed to look fresh even after spending several hours under the sun on Monday when she launched in four ports the roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) central seaboard in Bulan, Sorsogon; Masbate City and Cawayan, Masbate; and Bogo, Cebu.
The Ro-Ro's central seaboard is a network of ports running through the central seaboard of the Visayas from Sorsogon to Misamis Oriental.
Reports have swirled in the past weeks of a revamp that could affect Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who is said to retire, and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who will take over Gonzalez's post.
The Defense portfolio is reportedly being reserved for Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon who will retire from the service on May 9.
Reports also said that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye would be affected by the movement.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno will reportedly get the post held by Ermita who will become ambassador to Washington.
Reports also said that Arroyo could give positions to her loyal allies who lost in the senatorial election last year, including former chief of staff Michael Defensor.
The one year prohibition for the appointment to government posts of losing candidates will lapse on May 14.
But a Malacañang official, who is not authorized to speak on the matter, said that Ermita and Gonzalez would remain in their present posts.
“If I have 10 more Raul Gonzalezes, that will be half of the Cabinet already,” quipped President Arroyo in one recent Cabinet meeting, said the Palace official.
When asked recently about the revamp, Ermita, who is reportedly preparing for the Senate polls in 2010, said:
"The President is too hands-on. She is watching the performance of all Cabinet members,” he said, adding: "It goes under that principle that the President alone is the appointing [authority]. Leave it to her. Everyone serves at the pleasure of the President."
Thus, Ms Arroyo's alternative will be to designate Puno as permanent Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, making the interior post available to Teodoro without disturbing the political equilibrium in the Cabinet.
Puno has held the political adviser position in a concurrent capacity following the hospitalization of then Political Affairs Adviser Gabriel Claudio in 2007 for spinal problems. Claudio, who is now a director at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, is eyeing PCSO's chairmanship.
Even the posts of Bunye, who concurrently serves as the presidential spokesman, and Education Secretary Jesli Lapus are up for grabs with the expiration of the election ban.
It has been an open secret in the Cabinet that defeated Team Unity (TU) senatorial bets Michael “Mike” Defensor and former senators Vicente Sotto III and Tessie Aquino-Oreta have been offered Cabinet posts by Arroyo ostensibly as political payback for their loyalty.
Oreta, who ran with an education platform, is naturally asking for the education portfolio, while Defensor, the former chief of staff of Arroyo, has enough allies in the current members of the Cabinet -- plus his reported direct line to the President -- to be assured of a post in the next revamp.
A source said Defensor has been eyeing Bunye's post.
An ambassadorial post is being offered to Bunye, but that he politely declined for reasons known only to him. But the President has a “crucial position” reserved for Bunye, according to the Palace source.
Another Malacañang official, who did not want to preempt the revamp, said Claudio already recommended Sotto as the next presidential adviser on political affairs.
In the run-up to the 1998 polls, then Senators Gloria Arroyo and Sotto initially teamed up for the presidential race, until Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. entered the picture.
Although Sotto founded President Arroyo's party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino, along with her and Puno, the then powerful Speaker took Arroyo to become his running mate.
With a report from Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer
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