Pagdanganan is tourism chief; Alvarez returning to Cabinet?

Speculation is circulating at Malacañang that resigned presidential adviser Heherson Alvarez will soon return to President Arroyo’s Cabinet following Agrarian Reform Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan’s transfer to the Department of Tourism.

But Alvarez, who was interested in the agrarian reform portfolio in the past, squelched any possibility of returning, saying he was already committed to his bid for a seat in the Senate.

"I don’t think I’m coming back but I will still welcome the opportunity to sit down with President Arroyo if invited to meet with her," Alvarez told The STAR yesterday.

Alvarez held the agrarian reform portfolio during the administration of Corazon Aquino.

He is running as an independent although he is the vice president of the ruling party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

Aside from quitting his concurrent post as party spokesman last month, Alvarez decided to run as an independent after the administration included Sen. John Osmeña and former senator Miriam Santiago in its senatorial slate.

Alvarez was one of the congressmen who backed the impeachment of deposed President Joseph Estrada, now on trial for plunder before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

Osmeña and Santiago, meanwhile, were among the 12 senators allied with Estrada during the aborted impeachment trial, which ended in a farce in January 2001, triggering massive protests that forced Estrada from office.

Osmeña quit the opposition and became an independent after disagreements with colleagues.

Defensor joined the administration ticket after opposition presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr. enlisted Sen. Loren Legarda, a former Arroyo ally, as his vice presidential candidate.

Legarda was among the minority in the Senate that backed the Estrada impeachment complaint.

Alvarez said he remained supportive of the Arroyo administration. "Technically I have not left the administration."

New job

Pagdanganan replaces Richard Gordon, who is running for senator under the administration’s K-4 coalition. He will take his oath of office this week.

Philippine Tourism Authority general manager Robert Dean Barbers, a son of re-electionist Sen. Robert Barbers, has been heading the Department of Tourism in an acting capacity.

"The President wanted somebody with marketing expertise to continue her administration’s programs and projects on tourism that were started by Secretary Gordon," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Pagdanganan was the marketing head of consumer products manufacturer Unilever for several years before he entered politics.

He was governor of Bulacan for three terms. He ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in 1998 and 2001. He was being included in the administration K-4 senatorial slate but he withdrew at the last minute.

Pagdanganan joined the Arroyo administration in 2002 as her adviser on cooperatives. He was appointed to the Department of Agrarian Reform in January the following year during a major Cabinet revamp.

Pagdanganan told The STAR that the Palace might formally announce his appointment today.

"It was explained to me by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo last Friday that the President would like somebody to head the Department of Tourism with a marketing background because tourism is really a marketing job," he said.

"The President called me up later that day and told me that I have been in the marketing business for a long time. So I think my new assignment could easily harness my marketing background."

The PTA was also a "big job that requires a full-time head and I think Robert Dean Barbers already has his hands full in that job," the former governor added.

Pagdanganan will continue Gordon’s program, dubbed "WOW Philippines," which aims to promote the Philippines as a prime tourism destination.

"We will build on it. I think it’s a good program to really promote our tourism potential in earnest," he said.

Agrarian Reform Undersecretary Jose Maria Ponce is temporarily heading the department.

Bunye said Pagdanganan was given the tourism portfolio following a letter from Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza to the President.

"There is an immediate necessity to appoint a permanent secretary of tourism due to the very active and strong dynamism of the tourism industry worldwide. And despite all election-related activities, our efforts on tourism, which is now a primary dollar-earning industry, must be sustained," Mendoza’s memorandum stated.

"All countries worldwide, particularly in Asia, are sustaining their tourism-selling offensive and the Philippines must not be left behind."

The tourism secretary is also a member of the country’s three-man panel negotiating an aviation agreement with the United States.

Efforts to reach an agreement have remained elusive. Washington wants the Philippines to open its domestic routes to US airlines but has refused Manila’s demand for the United States to reciprocate. — With Mike Frialde