‘I will not bend to mob rule’

No to mob rule.

A day after she replaced a reform-minded pension fund official in the face of strikes and protests, President Arroyo warned yesterday that she would not be pressured to do the same thing again.

Last Thursday, Mrs. Arroyo replaced Vitaliano Nañagas as president of the Social Security System after a strike by SSS executives and employees who were angered by reforms he was initiating.

Mrs. Arroyo said "the changes were made mainly in the interests of the SSS" in delivering services to its clients, but rejected suggestions she caved in to mob rule.

"This should not in any way be viewed as precedent-setting and be an excuse to backtrack on reforming our various agencies and to challenge our executive discretion," she told a press conference.

Mrs. Arroyo has re-assigned Nañagas as chairman of the state-run Development Bank of the Philippines to replace Ernest Leung, who was to be given a different assignment.

Mrs. Arroyo said Nañagas himself suggested that he be taken out of the SSS to settle the work stoppage at the agency and allow employees to return to work.

"And what he did was really in the interest of preserving the institution and the effective management of the institution. But Cora de la Paz who is going to come in is not any less tough than Nañagas," she said.

But analysts warned that the replacement of Nañagas may be a sign of wavering commitment to reforms and raised the prospect that other special-interest groups would mount protests to block reforms or the appointment of officials they did not like.

Defenders of Nañagas said the strikers, who were backed by leftist labor groups, feared he would unearth hidden anomalies in the SSS and privatize some of its functions in an effort to make it more efficient.

Meanwhile, SSS executive vice president Horacio Templo ordered the agency’s employees to report for work today and Sunday and for SSS branches nationwide to be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to make up for the lost working hours.

"Branch offices will be open this weekend from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to render overtime service to address work backlog," read Templo’s statement. "It is our way of making up for lost time."

SSS offices nationwide closed down on Wednesday and Thursday after the SSS employees’ union declared a work stoppage to demand the ouster of Nañagas.

Operations returned to normal yesterday after Mrs. Arroyo announced the replacement of Nañagas by Corazon dela Paz.

Templo said SSS operations are being supervised by Finance Undersecretary Antonio Bernardo as officer-in-charge until Dela Paz assumes office in the next few days. – Marichu Villanueva, Matthew Estabillo