MANILA, Philippines—There is one more Cabinet member who may not make it in the second year of the Aquino administration.
President Benigno Aquino III, who marked his first year in office on Thursday, said he was generally satisfied with his Cabinet except for a Cabinet secretary, whom he plans to talk to regarding his performance in the job.
“Meron pa akong isang kakausapin at kapag hindi kami nagkaigihan, eh palagay ko mabigyan siya ng ibang assignment [There is one more Cabinet secretary I will talk to and, I think, if we can’t come to an understanding, I might give him another assignment],” Mr. Aquino told reporters in an interview after signing into law the measure postponing the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to May 2013 to coincide with the midterm polls.
The President, however, declined to not name the Cabinet member, only reiterating that the latter held a Cabinet rank.
Mr. Aquino made the statement when asked if he intended to remove the three unnamed Cabinet secretaries he mentioned last week that tended to give him nothing but bad news.
On this question, Mr. Aquino said he would not have appointed them to the position if he did not think they were highly qualified for the job. He then proceeded to say that nevertheless, he intended to talk to a Cabinet official about his performance.
Asked how he would rate the performance of his Cabinet members as his administration now starts its second year in office, Mr. Aquino said that “for the most part, I am very very satisfied with a lot of them” adding that they were “self-motivating and self-actualizing.”
He then mentioned as example Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman who, he said, he was certain was already taking charge in disaster operations even before he would ask her about it.
He also cited the good performance of his economic team and even the police.