MANILA, 19 August 2004 — Elected to a new six-year term in May, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was widely expected to name new faces in her Cabinet.
But some of the changes she made as she began the revamp yesterday were quite unexpected.
Arroyo named presidential Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo as foreign secretary, replacing Delia Albert, a career diplomat, whom she just appointed to the post late last year.
Arroyo named Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita as Romulo’s replacement, and appointed chief presidential legal adviser Avelino Cruz as the new defense chief.
Arroyo also did not spare close ally Roberto Pagdanganan, her tourism secretary, naming in his place Joseph Durano, a scion of the powerful Durano clan in Danao, Cebu.
The appointment is considered a prize for Cebuanos, who delivered the biggest votes, enabling Arroyo to beat the popular but bumbling action movie “king” Fernando Poe Jr. in the May 10 polls.
Arroyo shoved Pagdanganan aside by naming him chairman and president of the government-owned Philippine International Trade Corp.
With his new position, Romulo, a former senator, faces the task of smoothing the Philippines’ strained relations with its major ally, the United States, following last month’s controversial withdrawal of Filipino peacekeepers from Iraq to secure the release of a kidnapped Filipino worker.
It was not known whether Albert would be given another post.
Two of the changes that Arroyo made, which were leaked to media weeks ago, was her naming national police chief Hermogenes Ebdane as national security adviser, replacing Norberto Gonzales.
Earlier, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Ebdane, who was due to retire soon, was to be kicked upstairs to give way to general Edgardo Aglipay, who has only a few months to retire.
President Arroyo was reportedly impressed with Aglipay’s performance and she wanted to reward him the highest national police position before he bowed out of the service.
Also appointed to Cabinet posts were Florencio Abad, secretary of education; Raul Gonzalez, secretary of justice; Michael Defensor, secretary of environment and natural resources; Rene Villa, secretary of agrarian re-form; Joseph Durano, secretary of tourism; Ignacio Bunye, press secretary and presidential spokesman; and Cerge Remonde, head of Government Media Group.
Appointed to non-Cabinet positions, were: Edgardo Aglipay, chief of the Philippine National Police chief; Hermogenes Ebdane as national security adviser; Augusto Syjuco, chairman and director general of the Technical Education Skills Development Authority; Francisco Licuanan, adviser for Clark-Subic Development; Imelda Nicolas, secretary-general of the National Anti-Poverty Commission; Rodolfo del Rosario, adviser for new government center; Edgardo Pamintuan, adviser for constituencies; Reynaldo David, president of the Development Bank of the Philippines; Eduardo Ma?alac, president of Philip-pine National Oil Co.; Lilia Bautista as ambassador to Belgium.
The reshuffle brought a few new faces but left Arroyo’s economic team intact.
Senior economic officials will be expected to deal with the country’s widening budget deficit of $3.5 billion and the long-delayed privatization of loss-making state utility National Power Corp.
Arroyo, however, was expected to revamp her senior economic team soon, including the key post of finance secretary, to deal with a looming debt crisis caused by weak revenue streams, widespread tax evasion, and congressional opposition to a fresh batch of proposed tax measures.
Energy Secretary Vince Perez's name was being floated for the top finance post.
Earlier appointments to the Cabinet included those of Vice President Noli de Castro as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in place of Defensor; Arthur Yap, erstwhile administrator of the National Food Authority, as secretary of agriculture in place of Luis Lorenzo, who was appointed presidential adviser on jobs; and Angelo Reyes, former secretary of defense before becoming the anti-kidnapping czar, as secretary of interior and local government. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)
