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MALACAÑANG Wednesday snuffed out rumors that Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves will be replaced by former
senator Ralph Recto, and reiterated the Arroyo Cabinet
“remains unified, solid and intact.”
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly
news briefing that he quickly informed Teves there is no
truth to the rumor, which circulated just hours after
the so-called “solidarity walk” of President Arroyo and
Cabinet and security officials at the Malacañang
grounds Tuesday.
“In
order to prevent any misunderstanding, immediately the
President gave out instructions to make a statement that
such a news is not true. There is no Cabinet shakeup
and Secretary Teves remains the secretary of finance. .
. . The Cabinet of President Arroyo remains unified, is
solid and intact,” said Ermita.
Earlier,
Recto himself had texted Senate reporters to disavow any
ambition to take the finance portfolio. He said Teves
was doing a “great job.”
Ermita
added any change in the Cabinet at this time would go
“against the grain of what we’ve been telling people,
that the Cabinet is intact.”
Ermita
said he even called Teves as soon as he learned about
the rumor Tuesday afternoon, just to tell him that it’s
false. Ermita said the President is “very much
satisfied” with Teves and the rest of the economic team,
especially given the strong performance of the economy.
He said
Malacañang remained confident that Teves, bypassed by
the Commission on Appointments several times, would
eventually get the nod of the CA.
“That it
failed in the first hearing, it failed in the second
hearing, this is not the first time that this thing has
happened. Many other Cabinet members before went through
the difficult route of being gone over twice, three
times, four times. But the process in the case of those
who have not been confirmed is not yet finished,” said
Ermita.
He
reported that the latest Cabinet official to pass CA
scrutiny is Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman.
When
asked, Ermita said, “There’s an effort of trying to
destabilize President Arroyo for her to lose
resolve....It is highly probable that they would like to
start with the members of the economic team so that
should one of them succumb to the calls of those calling
for the resignation of our President, then they think
they might succeed and it could very well start the
signal.” |
