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PRESIDENT Arroyo has chosen Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita to serve as presidential spokesman in a
concurrent capacity once Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye
assumes his new job as Monetary Board member on July 3.
Ermita
confirmed that the President informed him about his
additional task.
“When
the President called me around 2 o’clock this
afternoon…I thanked her for the confidence that she has
entrusted on my humble person...from the very time that
the President decided to let me be exposed to the media
every Wednesday, that is an indication that maybe the
President thought I could be helpful...in our
communications’ program,” he said.
He said
the appointment took him by surprise “because I never
thought the President had that in mind.”
Ermita
said the President apparently chose him for the job
because of his regular exposure to the media every
Wednesday, when he conducts his regular news briefing,
and on other days as well, for updates on issues
involving the executive branch.
The
President told reporters in an informal chat in Panglao,
Bohol, on Tuesday night that she was considering Ermita
to her spokesman since he was already giving regular
news briefings to Palace reporters anyway.
She made
the revelation while answering questions about Chief
Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, who would become the new
Press Secretary on June 16.
When the
President was asked whether Dureza would also be her
spokesman, a dual task performed by Bunye, she said:
“I’m thinking of Executive Secretary Ermita as
spokesman...anyway, he holds his weekly briefing with
you.”
She also
defended Dureza’s appointment, saying he was among the
front-runners in the Palace Search Committee’s list of
candidates for press secretary prior to Bunye’s
appointment in 2002.
The
President also said that after it was erroneously
reported that there would be a “major” revamp in the
Cabinet, some people “applied” for certain Cabinet
positions including the energy portfolio, but declined
to say who they were.
She
clarified that when she confirmed that there would be a
revamp, she did not say that it was going to be
wide-ranging.
To put
to rest any speculations about changes in the
President’s official family, Bunye, on instructions of
the President, announced on Sunday the full extent of
the Cabinet revamp with the appointment of Dureza as
Press Secretary and former Armed Forces chief of staff
Hermogenes Ebdane as Chief Peace Adviser.
The
President had earlier appointed Cabinet Secretary
Ricardo Saludo as chair of the Civil Service Commission,
and in his place, Presidential Adviser on New Government
Centers Silvestre Bello III. |
