GMA orders Barbers’ son to take over PTA

President Arroyo ordered yesterday the youngest son of administration Sen. Robert Barbers to assume the post of general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), replacing Nixon Kua.

Describing his sudden relief as "highly irregular," Kua urged his replacement, Robert Dean Barbers, to "observe the rule of law," saying he has a fixed six-year term that will expire in 2006.

Kua said he would consult his lawyers and might take the issue to court. "If the court says he can assume office, then so be it," Kua told The STAR. "I’ll be civil with him. But I’ll advise him to observe the rule of law."

Kua said he was notified about his relief on Nov. 21 by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo.

Sources said Barbers arrived late Monday afternoon at the Department of Tourism in Manila to pay a courtesy call on Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon. But he left without seeing Gordon, who was attending a conference.

The PTA is an agency under the supervision of the DOT.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz summoned Barbers to Malacañang yesterday to brief him on the legality of his appointment to the PTA post.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said Kua does not have a fixed term because he was a presidential appointee and his term was co-terminus with that of Mrs. Arroyo’s predecessor, Joseph Estrada, who appointed him in November 2000.

"The legal opinion of the Palace is that the President has the prerogative to appoint her own political appointees," Tiglao said. "And since Mr. Kua has already served more than two years now, perhaps it might be time already to find a new man for the job."

Estrada was ousted in January 2001 by a military-backed massive protest after his impeachment trial ended in a farce.

He is currently on trial for allegedly running a protection racket for illegal gambling operators, misusing state funds and profiting from insider trading while in office.

Tiglao dismissed Kua’s speculation that Mrs. Arroyo was paying a political debt to the Barbers family for delivering the votes in the Caraga region in northern Mindanao in last year’s senatorial elections.

Kua also charged that he was being replaced because of his "friendship with people identified with the former President (Estrada)."

"You can’t ask for motivations. The President can choose her own political appointees. Once this principle is violated, it would be very hard for the President to run the government," Tiglao said.

He did not say when the young Barbers, who ran for vice mayor of Makati City in last year’s general elections and lost, will assume the PTA post.

Yesterday, PTA employees sported black arm bands at work and held a noon-time protest rally in front of their office, to protest Kua’s relief.

"In the spirit of Christmas, we’re calling on the President to reconsider her decision. Mr. Kua has done a lot in terms of projects, including the facelift of several tourist destinations in the country," Felicitas Benting, president of the PTA employees union, said.

Replacing Kua might disrupt the government’s tourism projects, she said. — With Marichu Villanueva