Cabinet Revamp: Part
of a Grand Design?
Controversial allies by President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo have been designated to key positions in her cabinet.
This, said Fernando Hicap of the fisher folk group Pamalakaya, is part of
President Arroyo’s grand design to stay in power and to consolidate her
forces by rewarding her allies for sticking by her side through thick and
thin.
By Jhong dela
Cruz
Bulatlat
Controversial allies
by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have been designated to key positions
in her cabinet. This, said Fernando Hicap of the fisher folk group
Pamalakaya, is part of President Arroyo’s grand design to stay in power
and to consolidate her forces by rewarding her allies for sticking by her
side through thick and thin.
Six cabinet movements
have transpired in a week: the appointment of Representatives Ronaldo Puno
to head the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and
Rolando Andaya as budget secretary; the designation of former DILG
Secretary Angelo Reyes to head the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR); Secretary Michael Defensor was moved from the DENR to
the Office of the President; Western Samar Rep. Eduardo Nachura was
appointed as chief legal counsel; presidential adviser Edgardo Pamintuan
was placed as chairman of the Subic-Clark Area Development Council (SCAD);
and Dr. Esperanza Cabral, former director of the Philippine Heart Center,
is now secretary of the Department of Social Work and Development.
The appointments were
announced last Feb. 4 and Feb. 5. This early, a few are already fulfilling
what are expected of them while the others will likely follow suit.
Who’s who
DILG Secretary Ronald
Puno is president of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Partner of the
Free Filipino) or Kampi, the party formed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
in 1998. Puno was elected
congressman of the 1st district of Antipolo City in 2004.
Puno served as
assistant DILG secretary during the Marcos regime and was DILG chief to
former President Estrada.
His appointment,
which came a month after the Lakas directorate met and finalized plans for
Charter Change or Cha-cha, is seen as a catalyst by mobilizing the support
of local authorities to the planned constituent assembly.
Budget Secretary
Rolando Andaya, a native of Bicol, belongs to a political clan from
Camarines Sur. He is in his third and last term as congressman. Andaya’s
appointment came at a time when the 2006 budget is undergoing deliberation
before the Senate.
Former DENR Secretary
Michael Defensor is a staunch ally of the President Arroyo. He defended
the president in issues not even related to his former post as DENR
secretary. His appointment as chief of the Presidential Management Staff
(PMS) did not come as a surprise.
Former Western Samar
Rep. Eduardo Nachura and now chief legal counsel was a member of the
prosecution team in impeachment proceedings against Estrada. He was
undersecretary for legal affairs of the Department of Education, Culture,
and Sports (DECS) from 1994 to 1998. He was also a commissioner of the
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board for one year in 1993. Nachura headed
the House committee on constitutional amendments during the 12th
congress.
DENR Secretary Angelo
Reyes was chief of staff of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines during Estrada's term. He helped place
Arroyo to the presidency when he withdrew support from Estrada in 2001. He
was subsequently appointed as secretary of the Department of National
Defense where he became controversial after the Oakwood mutineers
implicated him to the series of bombings in Mindanao
in 2002 allegedly to justify the request from the
U.S. government of additional anti-terror
funds. As DILG chief, he ordered the siege at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan
leading to the death of 22 inmates.
Edgardo Pamintuan,
now chair of the Subic-Clark Area
Development Council (SCAD) was said to have took part in the reopening of
peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 2004. Under Arroyo’s term, he was
appointed as general manager of the National Housing Authority.
Esperanza Cabral, a
cardiologist and former head of the Philippine Heart Center filled up the
position left vacant by former Secretary Dinky Soliman who bolted out from
Arroyo’s camp and led the so-called Hyatt 10.
Another recent
appointee is Commissioner Jose Mario Buñag of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue.
Buckling down to
work
On his very first
day, Secretary Puno has reportedly been seeking support for the Arroyo
administration’s Charter Change (Cha-cha) initiative from both chambers of
Congress. Puno in media interviews, have expressed confidence that his
group will get the required three-fourths vote from the House of
Representatives and Senate voting separately. The 34-member Kampi aims to
gather 195 signatures from both chambers of congress and senate.
Secretary Angelo
Reyes immediately began an aggressive campaign to lure foreign investors
into investing in the mining industry. The Arroyo administration is
banking on the mining industry to bring in the much-desired foreign
capital to prop-up the economy in spite of stiff opposition from
cause-oriented groups and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the
Philippines.
Secretary Reyes is
enticing foreign investors to set-up facilities for commercial mining
operations in more than nine million hectares of "untapped, mineral-rich"
lands across the country. His department has identified some 24 mining
ventures, which need about $8 billion in capital for minerals exploration
in the next five to six years.
Budget Secretary
Andaya is now at the center of controversy as the Arroyo administration
expanded the coverage of Executive Order 464 to include the attendance of
government officials in budget hearings. Senators charged that the
non-attendance of cabinet officials will cause the failure of Congress to
approve the 2006 budget. This, they said, will lead to a reenactment of
the 2005 budget and will enable the President to transfer funds from one
office to another. With a more flexible appropriation, the President will
need a reliable ally as budget secretary. Also part of the 2006 budget is
the proposed P5-billion Kilos Asenso Fund (Move towards Progress) and a
P3-billion Kalayaan Fund (Freedom Fund), itemized for the DILG and DND---raw
funds that are being eyed for use to jumpstart the government's campaign
to drum up the Cha-Cha through a people's initiative.
Grand design
Hicap said that the
new appointments are part of a “grand design” to enable Arroyo to remain
in power and consolidate her forces.
Senator Aquilino
Pimentel in a January 13 press release said that the impending appointment
of Ronaldo Puno is part of the preparations to influence, if not to
directly manipulate, the result of the proposed plebiscite on Charter
change (Cha-Cha).
"If Puno gets to assume the DILG post,
then we may be seeing a replay of GMA's appointment of Virgilio Garcillano
to the Commission on Election (Comelec), which we all know led to massive
cheating in the 2004 elections," Pimentel said.
Bayan Muna
representative Joel Virador for his part blasted Reyes for his “heartless
stand on the environment and indigenous peoples in offering the country to
unbridled foreign plunder of our mineral resources.”
“In appointing Reyes
to the environment portfolio, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has sent the signal
to the public that she will push for large-scale, foreign mining
operations in the country. This appointment is also a declaration of war
on the environment, our indigenous peoples and national patrimony,”
Virador said.
“With the background
of the recent appointees, people can already see the reasons for their
appointments…Arroyo cannot fool the people because they know she will do
all she can to stay in power,” Hicap said.
Senators noted that
cabinet officials due for confirmation have also refused to attend the
hearings of the Commission on Appointments citing Executive Order 464.
This, critics say, may be part of the Arroyo administration’s attempt to
circumvent the need for congressional approval to the new appointments.
Hicap said, “These
appointments and maneuvers will be political suicide for Arroyo…their
appointments will be short-lived however the president keeps them intact
because she will drag them down with her.” Bulatlat
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