Consider FVR as DFA chief, solon asks GMA

Please consider former President Fidel Ramos for the Department of Foreign Affairs top post to be vacated by Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr.

Opposition Rep. Abraham Mitra (LDP, Palawan) made this appeal to President Arroyo yesterday, saying "FVR, who is now a special envoy and who is always abroad, would make a good secretary of foreign affairs."

Reacting to Mitra’s suggestion, Rep. Prospero Nograles (Lakas, Davao City) said he does not think Ramos would accept a Cabinet post.

"He had been in the Cabinet and had held the highest position in the land. Why would he now demean himself by joining the Cabinet again?" he asked. He said his colleague’s suggestion could be loaded with intrigues.

However, Nograles agreed with Mitra that Mrs. Arroyo should have a wider field of choice in selecting her next secretary of foreign affairs.

Besides Ramos, Mitra has other candidates for the DFA post.

They are Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr., Ambassador to Tokyo Domingo Siazon, and Jaime Zobel de Ayala, patriarch of the Ayala business empire.

"There is no shortage of good men who can ably perform the role of top diplomat. The President should take her time in picking out the best from the deep talent pool available," he said.

Although various names have been mentioned as the possible successor of Guingona at the DFA, a congressional source said the position has been offered only to opposition Sen. Blas Ople.

The source said Mrs. Arroyo sent her chief image builder and part-time fund raiser, businessman Dante Ang, to Los Angeles, California over the weekend to make the offer.

Ople, who was a long-time labor minister during the Marcos regime, said he would consider the offer only "if it is extricated from the political and ethical issues in the Senate." – Jess Diaz