Cayetano slams Palace for failing to fire Abaya

“WHAT’S so special about Abaya?”

Vice Presidential candidate and Sen. Alan Cayetano Peter Cayetano on Tuesday slammed Malacañang for failing to sack Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya in the face of “unparalleled level of incompetence.”

“Why is Secretary Abaya so special that despite his series of monumental blunders, Malacañang can’t seem to sack him?” Cayetano said.

The senator issued the statement after a five-hour power outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 on Sunday that delayed over a hundred of domestic and international flights.

“From special screws, overcharging of non-delivered stickers, late license plates and no available driver’s licenses, frequent MRT breakdowns, abandoned license plates at Customs, stolen plate sheets, and now airport blackouts, I have never seen such display of incompetency in our recent political history. Why Secretary Abaya continues to serve in DOTC despite these is mind-boggling, it defies all existing logic,” Cayetano said.

He said the Aquino administration should fire Abaya “as his incompetence is a continuing source of embarrassment in the international community.”

“The DOTC’s ineptitude is so meteoric that it borders to the criminal. Worse, it not only victimizes our people but our foreign guests as well. It’s a continuing international embarrassment,” he said.

Cayetano urged Abaya “to show compassion to his department’s rank-and-file employees by saving them from the public’s ire and further embarrassment.”

“Kawawa na ang mga ordinaryong kawani ng DOTC na tapat at masipag na nagtatrabaho dahil sa kapalpakan ng kanilang mga opisyales. Kung may natitira pang dignidad at delicadeza si Sec. Abaya, aalis siya sa pwesto na lubha niyang inabuso at pinahiya,” he said.