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FINANCE
Secretary Margarito Teves said on Sunday that he has
decided not to push through with his plan to submit a
courtesy resignation to President Arroyo this week after
Malacañang clarified what the finance chief called a
“totally inaccurate” report regarding a revamp in the
Executive.
In a
statement coursed through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye,
Teves maintained that he is prepared to leave the
Cabinet if the Chief Executive asks him to.
On
Friday, Teves said in a radio interview that he and
other members of the economic team had agreed to submit
their courtesy resignation to the President on June 18
in compliance with a reported “general order” to the
Cabinet and presidential appointees in government-owned
and -controlled organizations (GOCCs).
The
supposed order, which appeared in the banner of a news
daily on Thursday, quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita as saying that the President would also ask
Cabinet members to submit their courtesy resignations,
along with her GOCC appointees.
But
during the particular interview with Ermita, which was
after his weekly news conference in Malacañang, he
declined to comment on a possible expansion of the
directive to the GOCCs when asked if it would extend to
the Cabinet.
The news
report became the subject of a meeting among the
economic managers, who agreed to submit a courtesy
resignation if the President asks for it, but Teves went
one step further by saying that he would tender his
resignation the following week to give Mrs. Arroyo a
free hand to revamp her official family.
“I was
prepared to tender my letter of resignation on June 18
in line with a presidential directive which I thought
included Cabinet secretaries. However, Secretary Bunye
clarified that any news purporting to expand the
coverage of the presidential order to include Cabinet
members is totally inaccurate,” he said.
He
added: “Nevertheless, if and when the President asks me
to do so, I will readily resign. We serve at her
pleasure. And we’d like to give her a free hand in
reorganizing the government.”
Expectations about a government-wide revamp were fueled
by the President herself, who had said on several
occasions that she would likely announce changes in her
official family after the May 14 elections.
The
President is scouting for replacements for Roberto
Pagdanganan, who was Philippine International Trading
Corp. chairman before he ran for Bulacan governor last
month; and Joey Salceda, her former Presidential Chief
of Staff, who recently won as Albay governor.
She also
has yet to name a permanent replacement for National
Treasurer Omar Cruz.
The
Palace Search Committee chaired by Secretary Bernardino
Abes is now gathering information on presidential
apppointees in government-owned and -controlled
corporations, including some possible replacements, to
guide the President in her performance review. |
