If elected, Poe says she will remove Abaya, Henares, Alcala

Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

Senator Grace Poe said she would not retain the heads of at least three departments—the Department of Communications and Transportation (DOTC), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) should she get elected president in the upcoming elections in May.

DOTC is being headed by Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, BIR is being headed by Kim Henares while DA head is Secretary Proceso Alcala.

Poe has long been calling for Abaya’s resignation or dismissal from his post.

READ: Poe urges Aquino: Fire ‘incompetent, shortsighted’ Abaya

So when asked during an open forum at the 2016 Presidential Dialogues in Makati on Wednesday who are the Cabinet members that she would not retain in the current administration, the senator said: “I think it’s pretty obvious, DOTC is one of them, BIR, Agriculture to name a few.”

“I think I just created more enemies now. I’m used to it,” she added.

Before this, Poe said the criteria in choosing her Cabinet members are integrity and credibility. She said they should also have the “expertise and the creative capability to be able to solve solutions quickly.”

“It doesn’t matter to me what party you belong for as long as I think you can do the job quickly and properly. Having said that, yes, I do have a few people mind that I’m retaining from the current administration’s Cabinet members,” she said.

READ: Poe to retain ‘best performing’ Cabinet execs if elected

“But with all due respect, I think I should not even mention their names yet because I’ve not asked them formally. I don’t want to be presumptuous at this point, but I have a few people in mind already,” Poe added. RAM

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