Magpale upbeat on Cabinet post for Almendras

EVEN with his energy department portfolio, Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday said she believes her brother can still move up the Palace’s hierarchy.

Magpale made the comment amid reports that Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras is being considered among the candidates for the post of Cabinet secretary by President Benigno Aquino III.

“P-Noy must be happy with how he is handling the energy department … I know he is very capable. He is very good in management,” she said.

Magpale said Almendras built a reputation as a good administrator. She cited Almendras’s stint in Ayala as senior vice president of Manila Water as an example.

“I only worry because his children are still small. I know that my sister-in-law was very much against him accepting the position when he was first asked by P-Noy to join the Cabinet,” she said.

“In fact, right after elections they left for the US,” Magpale said.

The vice governor said Almendras is a close and longtime friend of President Aquino.

“They were classmates in Ateneo. During those times, when P-Noy’s father was incarcerated, he really stood by him,” Magpale told Cebu Daily News.

She said the President convinced Almendras to serve the country in his administration.

“The way the President put it, ‘Pare, para sa bayan ito (Buddy, it’s for the country)’ … It’s more of a sacrifice on his (Almendras) part,” she said.

The post of Cabinet secretary was created on Dec. 22, 1986, to maximize the services of the Cabinet to the President.

The last person who held the post during the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was Silvestre Bello III.

A secretary to the Cabinet is tasked to head the Cabinet secretariat, which helps the President in establishing the agenda of Cabinet meetings.

Almendras, in a statement sent to Cebu Daily News, said he hasn’t received an official notification on the matter.

Magpale said even without the post, she can still manage her candidacy in 2013. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus