Bunye is next press secretary?

President Arroyo may name former Muntinlupa representative Ignacio Bunye as her next spokesman and press secretary.

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable told reporters yesterday he heard Mrs. Arroyo mention Bunye as his possible replacement during a meeting in Malacañang about two weeks ago.

"(Mrs. Arroyo) didn’t talk about this as if it were a firm decision," he said. "She was just thinking aloud."

Afable, who heads the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), has been acting as presidential spokesman since Rigoberto Tiglao went on a study leave to Japan two months ago.

Sources close to Bunye said the former congressman has been receiving reports about his possible appointment as press secretary.

"Maybe (Malacañang) is considering him," the sources said. "He would be a good choice."

Bunye, who was named officer-in-charge of Muntinlupa in 1986, was said to have worked as a reporter for the pre-martial law radio station dzMT, the broadcast arm of the old Manila Times and with the defunct Daily Star.

While working as a reporter, Bunye took up law and went into practice after passing the Bar.

Before being elected congressman of Muntinlupa in 2001, Bunye served as mayor of the city for a long time.

Afable told reporters in Baguio City during Independence Day celebrations Wednesday he wants to go back to his "quiet job" at the PMS.

"I want to work more quietly ... in policy making," he said.

Afable said he has been juggling his three jobs as press secretary, PMS head, and at the Philippine Information Agency.

"There is no problem with consistency because policies go up to the President," he said. "I am just standing in for Bobbi Tiglao ... and I am slated to go back full time to the PMS. I have worked closely with Bobbi Tiglao whose job was given to me three days before he would leave (for his scholarship)." – Paolo Romero, Aurora Alambra