MANILA,
JUNE 4, 2011 (STAR)
By Aurea Calica - President Aquino is eyeing former senator Manuel Roxas
II (photo) as replacement for Transportation and Communications
Secretary Jose de Jesus, who is set to step down on July 1, Malacañang sources
said yesterday.
"It's possible," a Palace source said. Roxas is supposedly the incoming
presidential chief of staff but the administrative order defining his official
title and functions has yet to be released.
Sen. Francis Escudero, who is known to be part of the Samar Group, a rival of
the Balay Group led by Roxas during the campaign, also suggested that Roxas be
made secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)
rather than chief of staff to prevent a power struggle within the Palace.
Escudero and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. were part of the Samar
Group. Roxas could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Newsbreak online quoted unidentified sources as saying that Roxas had turned
down the offer to head the DOTC.
Newsbreak said, however, that the offer came at a time when Roxas had already
clarified the parameters of his presidential chief-of-staff functions.
On Wednesday, Ochoa told reporters that discussions were still ongoing to
determine the "official title and functions" of Roxas.
Ochoa said the Palace was dealing with Roxas' appointment "in a more
appropriate manner" and with "enough circumspection" in relation to laws that
created existing government positions and offices.
"We're still discussing details of his (Roxas) official functions and
probably that will be the time to really decide on his official title," Ochoa
said. "We're being careful and we're exercising enough circumspection in dealing
with it."
According to Ochoa, Malacañang is looking at a specific title and function
that can remain relevant even after the end of the term of the administration to
strengthen the structural organization and the bureaucracy.
"Some positions are well defined in the law, some are not, so that's what we
are trying to fix here and we're hoping that in the administrative aspect of
things, this time we'll come up with better definition of functions," Ochoa
said.
"We fix something not based on personalities, not to make things suitable for
us per se or for this administration. We fix something to hopefully make the
right way of structure, organization and staffing that even after this
administration, it can be useful," he said.
"It should not refer to any particular administration but it should refer
rather to what can really work for this country in terms of administering
government," he added.
Only for one year
Meanwhile, President Aquino stressed on Wednesday in Brunei that De Jesus had
intended to serve his administration only for a year.
"I was shy about asking him to stay for another year. The fact that he agreed
to serve in my Cabinet was something that I should really be thankful for," he
told reporters in an interview at the residence of Ambassador Nestor Ochoa.
"I asked him if he could join my Cabinet if I won, and he told me, 'I hope
you would lose'," he said.
He said De Jesus, who is in his 80s, did not have enough sleep because of the
rigors of the job.
Aquino said De Jesus was instrumental in the post-Marcos infrastructure boom.
De Jesus had also served in his mother's Cabinet in the '80s.
The President also belied speculations that he was referring to De Jesus when
he talked about an underperforming Cabinet official. "No, it's not true. It's
not Ping," he said.
"The DOTC head is a position that requires my utmost trust. He has to be
compulsive in trying to ferret out everything," the President said.
Escudero, for his part, downplayed reports that De Jesus' resignation has
triggered a power struggle or had been a result of one, among the President's
men.
"We still don't know the reason behind his resignation. And I think it's not
right to say that there's a power struggle in the President's inner circle," he
said in Filipino.
He said Aquino has the last say on policy issues, including appointments.
Escudero is generally supportive of the administration but has shown his
displeasure at what he considers a snail-paced implementation of the
Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects.
"It's been a year (since Aquino assumed office), but have we seen at least
one PPP project that materialized?" the senator asked.
With Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla
FROM THE MANILA TIMES
Palace it is for Roxas as adviser to Aquino By
Cris G. Odronia, Reporter
It's final. Former Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas 2nd, defeated candidate for Vice
President in the 2010 elections, would be working possibly as presidential
adviser at Malacanang, not at the Department of Transportation and
Communications (DOTC), a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino 3rd said on
Friday.
Edwin Lacierda, when asked on reports that President Aquino was eyeing Roxas
as possible replacement for DOTC Secretary Jose "Ping" de Jesus, replied, "Mar
Roxas has always been considered as someone who will work within the Palace."
Lacierda, during an interview over ABS-CBN news channel ANC, said that the
former senator and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. met to discuss Roxas'
possible role in the Cabinet on Wednesday, or two days after the resignation of
de Jesus.
The meeting, according to the Malacañang spokesman, was held "so that there
will be no overlapping (in the) functions" of Roxas and Ochoa.
"My understanding was that it was a smooth meeting and we're just going to
finalize the administrative order (that would legitimize the job to be given to
the former senator)," Lacierda said.
"I was told by (Roxas) that it was a good meeting," he added. Lacierda said
that the former senator's official designation was still under study.
"My understanding is that he will be working in the Palace but as to the
designation of the Chief of Staff, I think that is also being worked out," he
added.
"I'm not sure if he [Roxas] will be properly called the Chief of Staff. There
might be a designation but definitely it will be a Cabinet rank," Lacierda said.
"My understanding is (that the former senator's job would be) something along
the lines of Presidential Adviser," he added.
The spokesman said that the official designation and functions of Roxas in
the Aquino administration will be revealed once the administrative order has
been completed and released to the public.
Deputy spokesman Abigail Valte also on Friday said that it would be better to
wait for President Aquino's announcement on who would be the replacement for de
Jesus at the Transportation department.
"I think we'd like to wait for the President to make that announcement and
partly because I personally do not know also who the choice of the President
will be to replace Secretary de Jesus," Valte added.
"Apart from the clues that the President had given that the replacement will
be male and he's well-known already, wala din po tayong maibibigay (we can't
give you any other clues)," she said.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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