GMA assumes DFA post, Tito’s criticisms welcomed

President Arroyo assumed yesterday in a concurrent capacity the post of secretary of foreign affairs, one day after Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. formally stepped down from the post ahead of Monday’s effectivity of his resignation.

At Malacanang, Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable welcomed yesterday Guingona’s statement that he will be a "vocal, constructive" critic of the administration.

Deputy Minority Leader Rolex Suplico said yesterday President Arroyo’s bid to draft opposition members for government posts manifests that the government is running out of talents to tap from the Lakas-NUCD party.

On Friday, Guingona ended his 17-month stint at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) marked by public clashes with the President on policy issues, notably the redeployment of US troop in the country through the joint RP-US Balikatan anti-terror military exercise.

Afable said Mrs. Arroyo will lead the DFA as an organization and that she will "delegate to the proper deputies the jobs to be done and oversee them."

"The job would not be far from the job of the President. The President is the chief architect of foreign policy. It is easy for her to take over," Afable said.

He did not however say whether the President will physically go to the DFA headquarters in Roxas Boulevard. He also did not specify the duration that the President will occupy the post of foreign affairs secretary.

Afable just said Mrs. Arroyo is the foreign affairs secretary for a temporary period, until such time that a Presidential search committee chaired by presidential adviser Victoria Garchitorena submits a list of candidates and the President picks out from the roster.

Mrs. Arroyo does not need any kind of special preparation before she assumes the DFA post, he said. "The President is prepared to take over any position in the Cabinet if she so wishes."

In the past, Mrs. Arroyo took a direct hand and even held offices at the Department of Agriculture for several months to speed up the implementation of her administration’s agricultural modernization program.

A Malacanang insider told The STAR that Sen. Blas Ople "has the inside track" among potential DFA nominees.

Ople is widely perceived as the President’s choice for the post, which he admitted was offered to him during a private dinner in Malacanang in December last year.

"The Palace still welcomes the continuous involvement of the Vice President in vital national issues and his advice we value," Afable said.

He said he believes that Guingona will not join the Council of Philippine Affairs (COPA) which has severed ties with the administration following a public spat between Mrs. Arroyo and COPA secretary general Pastor Saycon.

Afable said Guingona, a known nationalist, informed Malacanang that he will not join any anti-administration rallies.

On Friday, Guingona said he will "continue to be vigilant, alert and purposeful covering national issues of the day and key interests of what is going on in the DFA."

At the opposition front, Suplico said, "The recruitment binge of the Arroyo administration on the members of the opposition is an admission that she could not trust the capability of her partymates to help her stop a decline in her popularity rating.

Suplico said the recruitment of the opposition will not help the President regain the people’s trust because she is causing the national problems through her poor governance.