Noynoy gives Cabinet men tenure assurance

President Aquino issued a blanket assurance to Cabinet members against a shake-up yesterday, saying he does not plan to remove any of his officials from their respective positions.

Deputy presidential spokesn Abigail Valte said she has spoken with Aquino to know from him the truth about rumors of a Cabinet revamp.

“No less President Aquino said that his Cabinet officials got a very high approval rating so there is no reason for him to replace them because even the public itself sees that they are performing. The President stressed that there will be no Cabinet revamp this year,” Valte told reporters.

Valte issued the statement in response to rumors circulating at the House of Representatives that Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman will be replaced soon by defeated Liberal Party senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros.

The speculation developed after state workers representing labor groups such as Wage Fight and National Federation of Employees Associations of the Department of Agriculture (Nafeda) vowed to challenge the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the DSWD even if it’s held by a new head of the social welfare department.

Soliman is at the center of controversies involving the P10-billion Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) bonds scam by the group Code-NGO (Caucus of Development-NGO Networks) that she used to head.

Wage Fight and Nafeda have noted that the CCT would promote mendicancy and could replace a serious job generation scheme which the groups indicated the government should have been giving more attention to in its effort to lift poor families out of poverty.

In response to the state workers’ unions’ argument, Valte called on them to try and understand what the CCT program is all about, insisting that it doesn’t promote mendicancy but teaches instead members of poor families to be responsible as they are being presented with conditions by the government before allowing them to avail the financial assistance.

“I’d like to take exception to the fact that it [CCT] is [promoting] mendicancy because, again, we have said that the conditional cash transfer program is not a doleout. It’s not something that will be given as donation…let us try to understand the substance of our conditional cash transfer program… it teaches the beneficiaries to be responsible not only for themselves but also for their families,” Valte said.

Other Cabinet officials whose names have been floated in these Cabinet reshuffle rumors lately include Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.

Valte earlier advised speculators to refrain from spreading this unfounded information to the public but she said she would welcome it if they come forward to the President and share their recommendations if they so insist.

Malacanang, meanwhile, appointed a senior official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and two members of the board of directors of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

Valte said Maria Victoria Jasmin was appointed as DOT Acting Undersecretary for Services and Regional Operations.

A former assistant secretary and director of the DOT’s Office of Tourism Standards, Jasmin’s appointment is seen to strongly support the department’s promotional efforts in attaining its year-end target of 3.3 million visitors this year.

Valte also announced the appointment of LBP board directors Victor Gerardo Bulatao, representing the agrarian reform beneficiaries, and Domingo Diaz, representing the private sector.

As a catalyst in countryside development and poverty alleviation, LBP is the country’s largest credit institution in the rural areas that has been expanding its agribusiness and livelihood loan portfolio for priority sectors particularly to farmers and fishermen, small and medium enterprises and microenterprises. –Aytch S. de la Cruz, Daily Tribune