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PRESIDENT Arroyo revealed on Monday night that there
will be a Cabinet revamp next month, but would not say
the extent of changes she will be making, nor the people
involved.
The
President made the disclosure over dinner with Palace
reporters in Cebu City, on the eve of a National
Economic and Development Authority Cabinet Group meeting
to be held onboard a roll-on, roll-off ferry from Jagna
in
Bohol to Camiguin.
Asked
whether there would be any changes in her official
family, the President said: “Yes.” She declined to say
who would be affected by the revamp but answered, when
asked, that it would be “next month.”
Sources
told the BusinessMirror Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez
was being groomed to replace Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita, who, in turn, will head the Philippine Amusement
and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor); and that Defense Secretary
Gilberto Teodoro will take the justice portfolio while
yielding his post to Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr., who retires from military service on May 9.
The
revamp is expected to be announced after the one-year
appointment ban on losing candidates in the 2007
elections lapses on May 14, and is widely believed to
benefit losing administration senatorial bets, such as
former congressman Prospero Pichay, former presidential
chief of staff Michael Defensor, and former senators
Teresa Aquino-Oreta, Ralph Recto and Vicente Sotto III.
Ermita told reporters in an interview that the President
would be guided by “loyalty” and track record in making
changes in the Cabinet.
Deputy
Presidential Spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said, “Anytime,
it is the prerogative of the President to replace her
Cabinet if she feels that they have to be transferred or
replaced. But, basically, what the President is looking
at is the performance of our Cabinet secretaries,” she
said.
Fajardo
also said that it would be premature to conclude that
the looming Cabinet revamp is only meant to pay off the
President’s political debts to loyal supporters.
“The
problem is, [some people] are preempting it. Let’s not
have this attitude. Let us first see if they are
qualified for their position. . . .
There
are no appointments yet, and we don’t know who will be
appointed,” she said. (With M. Gonzalez) |
