DILG chief sacks 6 of 8 deputies

Interior and Local Go-vernment Secretary Jose Lina has sacked six of eight assistant secretaries at the department and permanently abolished their offices as part of the austerity program of the new administration.

"We have to follow the law, and the law says the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) should only have a maximum three assistant secretaries," Lina told reporters during the launching of a fire protection program yesterday.

The DILG intends to create a comptrollership office, whose head would be announced soon.

Dismissed from the DILG were Julius Topacio, assistant secretary for finance management administration; Gines Domasian, for national barangay operations; Remedios Paralejas, for social services; Renato Santiago, for legislative liaison affairs; Ferdinand Topacio, for local government; and Reynaldo Jaylo, for peace and order.

The offices of the six officials were created during the time of Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Remaining at their posts were two career executive service officers — Austere Panadero for human resource development and Benito Catindig for regional operations.

Lina said he also intends to cut down the number of undersecretaries from the current three to two.

The three undersecretaries are Narciso Santiago Jr., for local government, Rafaelito Garayblas Jr. for peace and order, and Anselmo Avenido Jr. for administration.

Santiago, who is the husband of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, has held on to his post despite numerous disputes with his former boss Puno. Garayblas was an appointee of Lina’s predecessor Alfredo Lim while Avenido is related to the wife of San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada.

The DILG is one of the government’s biggest and most vital offices, having the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology as its attached agencies. It also has direct supervision over local government units (LGUS) and officials, from governors down to barangay captains.

Meanwhile, Lina assured concerned groups yesterday that he will not meddle with the family planning program of the Department of Health (DOH).

This developed as feminist groups expressed fears that the secretary, a staunch pro-life advocate, might push for the banning of artificial contraception in all LGUs.

When he was still governor, Lina prohibited artificial contraceptive methods in health centers under the LGUs of Laguna and pushed for the promotion of natural methods.

In a phone interview, the new DILG chief said he does not have plans of encroaching on the programs on family planning, stressing he cannot impose his personal convictions on the DOH.

"I do not intend to meddle with the implementation of their program. My work deals with the immediate concerns of local governance," he said. – With Ella Oducayen