DENR, DA chiefs sacked

After denying rumors of a Cabinet revamp for weeks, President Arroyo announced yesterday she had replaced Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez and Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor.

"She has to fine-tune her Cabinet, her frontline... So each man has to be right for the job," said Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao, explaining Mrs. Arroyo’s unexpected move. "We’re working as a team and the President, I guess, has the prerogative to put an official in a task fit for him."

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said the replacements could also mean that Mrs. Arroyo was cracking the whip and that her official family "must really work harder."

"I think she would take a no-nonsense approach toward graft and corruption. We’re expected to do our jobs. There’s a lot to be done. We’ve only got a year and a half left (until the next presidential election)," he said.

Energy Secretary Vincent Perez told reporters that he got an "inkling" about the Cabinet change as early as Thursday. He refused to elaborate.

Mrs. Arroyo announced the changes during a Malacañang ceremony celebrating National Heroes’ Day and the birthday of revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio.

But she gave no indication in her speech that she was not satisfied with the performance of Alvarez and Montemayor, who will be replaced by environment activist Elisea Gozun and presidential adviser for job creation Luis Lorenzo, respectively.

Gozun was a former environment assistant secretary during the Ramos administration.

Incidentally, Montemayor was among the top 10 Cabinet officials with the highest public approval ratings in a survey by independent pollster Social Weather Stations.

He ranked fourth with a net approval rating of 11 percent, behind Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza (13 percent), Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes (14 percent) and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople (38 percent). Alvarez was not among the top 10.

Mrs. Arroyo commended Alvarez for his "sacrifices" in fighting for his pro-environment beliefs and thanked Montemayor "who was the voice for the small farmers."

Commenting on his relief, Alvarez said he had nothing but gratitude "for giving me the privilege to serve our people by protecting the environment."

"I serve at the pleasure of the President and I abide by her decisions," he said in a one-page statement.

Montemayor, on the other hand, did not appear surprised by the announcement and added he was quite relieved being off the job. "It’s a tough balancing act, especially when you have to come up with solutions to resolve conflicting interests," he said.

The unexpected Cabinet change came days after Mrs. Arroyo unceremoniously replaced a tourism official with the son of pro-administration lawmaker, Sen. Robert Barbers.

And a few more Cabinet members may be on their way out. A Malacañang official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The STAR that Mrs. Arroyo has a "short list" of Cabinet members who might get the ax.

"But she is keeping that list close to her chest," the official said.

When asked if there are any more who would be given the pink slip, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo said: "We will see."

Among those speculated to be on the chopping board were Justice Secretary Perez, Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho and Interior Secretary Jose Lina Jr.

Perez is accused by Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez – wanted by the United States for federal offenses and undergoing extradition proceedings – of extorting $2 million from him.

Camacho is under fire for failing to rein in the P187.6-billion budget deficit, which continues to balloon. Lina, meanwhile, earlier this year promised to resign if he failed to significantly reduce illegal gambling in a year.

Camacho, who earlier submitted a courtesy resignation following the rumored Cabinet revamp, reportedly wanted to go back to investment banking. Mrs. Arroyo earlier expressed disappointment at the government’s poor tax collection.

The relief of Alvarez came as a surprise because Mrs. Arroyo repeatedly ignored calls for her to drop him after he failed to get the approval of the Commission on Appointments – the congressional panel that screens and approves presidential appointments – several times.

In Montemayor’s case, Mrs. Arroyo cited the agriculture sector, along with the export industry, in a speech Thursday as the only areas that boosted the economy this year.

After Mrs. Arroyo had announced the sudden exit of Alvarez and Montemayor, one Cabinet official sidled up to The STAR: "It’s hazardous for one’s career to be publicly praised by the President. The next thing you would hear is you’re out of the Cabinet."

Alvarez and Montemayor were conspicuously absent at the Malacañang ceremony.

Mrs. Arroyo said she had offered Alvarez a "major task" of overseeing the conversion of gold-rich Mt. Diwalwal in Compostela Valley as a government "mineral reservation."

During her speech yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo issued Proclamation No. 297 – authored by Alvarez – banning direct mining by private individuals and firms in an 8,100-hectare chunk of Diwalwal, site of a makeshift mining colony.

Occassionally, violence arose from disputes between small miners and mining firms and poorly regulated mining resulted in landslides – even deaths.

Alvarez’s job was to make sure that Diwalwal was protected from further destruction and that poor families who depend on mining and would be dislocated by the mining ban would be taken care of.

"It is a very difficult job that has been offered to him to assist in this task," Tiglao said. Alvarez said he was "seriously considering" the offer but now wants to "take a break" to look after his wife who may undergo treatment for a lump on her breast.

Montemayor, on the other hand, has agreed to "concentrate more in is expertise in organizing farmers," Tiglao said. "The job for agriculture is really huge but somebody should be there in organizing small farmers."

Mrs. Arroyo, meanwhile, is banking on Lorenzo to "gear the Department of Agriculture to agri-business" and help small farmers "graduate from subsistence advocates to modernizing agri-business practitioners."

Lorenzo’s family owns an agri-business company in Mindanao that produces export-quality bananas. Mrs. Arroyo earlier appointed Lorenzo as chairman of the International Rice Research Institute and as her Cabinet officer for overseeing the development in Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions, both in the south.

"I’m honored by this manifestation of the President’s confidence," Lorenzo said in a statement, reacting to his appointment as agriculture secretary. "This is a very great responsibility because agriculture is our country’s main source of livelihood, with almost 40 percent of our labor force in agriculture."

He vowed to make Filipino farmers "more productive, efficient and profittable while also giving Filipino consumers more affordable and better quality food."

Gozun was not immediately available for comment. — With Katherine Andraneda, Rocel Felix