Outgoing Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus on Monday said the culture of transparency and good governance he advocated at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) would be the only way to put an end to controversial government deals that marked the previous administration.
De Jesus, who steps down on June 30, said he wanted to live quietly after 25 years in government service, and added he was thankful his resignation had been accepted by President Benigno Aquino III.
“I don’t think the President expected me to resign, but I did not expect him to ask me to stay, either,” De Jesus told the Inquirer. “Maybe it was because I was hoping that he would not stop me.”
He declined to comment on reports that he was stepping down owing to policy differences with the President. The media have linked De Jesus’ decision to resign to the expected return of Land Transportation Office (LTO) head Virginia Torres from a two-month leave.
De Jesus had recommended Torres’ suspension to clear the way for an investigation into her supposed role in an intracorporate dispute at Stradcom Corp, the LTO’s information technology provider.
De Jesus affirmed his loyalty to the President, saying that—the dip in the latter’s approval ratings notwithstanding—the “best man” still won the 2010 election.
“Sometimes, we just don’t know what we have until after we lose it,” he said. “Imagine what we endured for nine years [during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo].”
Hardworking Cabinet
De Jesus previously served as secretary of public works and highways of the late President Corazon Aquino, Mr. Aquino’s mother. He also served as her Cabinet secretary. His resignation came a year after he assumed the DoTC post.
De Jesus said he was confident that Mr. Aquino would find a competent replacement who would continue the reforms in the DoTC.
“The President has a good Cabinet with a lot of hardworking people. The President himself is hard-working and he pushes all of us to produce results,” De Jesus said.
The Inquirer reported the other day that former Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II was Mr. Aquino’s first choice for the post.
“As long as we don’t have anyone who’s deliberately out to sign shady deals, then it will be fine,” De Jesus said.
De Jesus said he was busy making a succession plan to ensure a smooth transition to his replacement.
“The first thing we are doing is to complete all pending matters and accelerate other projects,” he said.
De Jesus said his main accomplishments in the DoTC included starting the bidding process for the combined operations contract for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT)—the first project under the administration’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
The contract to build the LRT Line 1 extension to Cavite is also set to be bid out within the month.
De Jesus said the Philippine National Railways (PNR) is also set to open the train service from Metro Manila to Naga City by the end of the month.
Cancellation
De Jesus said the DoTC had also set a review of all pending projects approved under the previous administration. He said that while most of these projects had been approved, several billion-peso deals were planned to be renegotiated or canceled.
“We have identified many projects that needed to be corrected,” he said.
These include the controversial Greater Maritime Access (GMA) Ports and NorthRail projects, both of which have been found to be “highly onerous,” he said.
“My policy has been to be transparent and promote a level playing field when bidding projects out. As long as that is maintained, we are safe,” De Jesus said.
Style of governance
Several Roman Catholic bishops said the President had every right to appoint Roxas as transportation secretary but one of the prelates urged Mr. Aquino to also look into the problems in DoTC to find out what drove De Jesus to resign.
“How come this man, a very credible person, has resigned and, at the same time, three undersecretaries also resigned?” Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said on Church-run Radio Veritas. “There must be something wrong in that department.”
Jumoad also advised Mr. Aquino to “reflect deeper” on his style of governance as there could be more resignations from his Cabinet.
He urged the public to respect the President’s prerogative to appoint whom he deemed capable to replace De Jesus.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez and Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso said they saw no problem in Mr. Aquino appointing Roxas as long as he could efficiently lead the DoTC.
“It’s natural that we look for a public official who has the competency to lead a government agency and it is also important that they are loyal to the public,” said Iñiguez, chair of the public affairs committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Medroso said: “Since the DoTC is a very sensitive office, the one who should lead it must have competence and integrity.” With a report from Jocelyn R. Uy