MBC says Dinky’s resignation hurt GMA’s pro-poor program

DAVAO CITY — Makati Business Club (MBC) president Guillermo Luz said yesterday President Arroyo’s pro-poor agenda will be affected by the resignation of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman, who is considered the administration’s top "poverty fighter."

Luz also urged the President to do away with politics of accommodation in appointing those who will serve in her Cabinet.

"This has been our fear and we really want government to stay away from it, this politics of accommodation. There should be enough of this. We should be beyond this," Luz told reporters here after Soliman gave way to Vice President Noli de Castro - who replaces her in October, when her resignation takes effect.

De Castro’s assuming the DSWD chief post was reportedly part of a political deal Mrs. Arroyo entered into in persuading him to become her running mate in the May 10 general elections.

Luz said the business community was concerned "not just because we know Soliman and the fact that she did a good job. We just hate to see this practice go on. We just hope to see more rationality come back."

"Dinky (Soliman) has done a fantastic job since day one of her appointment. To lose a good government secretary just like that is not good at all," Luz added.

Although he admitted that the President is only seven days into her new term, Luz said, such practice of payback politics is already taking its toll on the economy.

"Enough of it already, we don’t need that in this country again," he said, adding that the country has seen too much political accommodation during Mrs. Arroyo’s first three years in office since 2001, when she replaced ousted President Joseph Estrada.

Luz said the President should assess the rationale and qualifications as well as objectives in appointing Cabinet members. "You lay out a 10-point program and you (remove) your number one man, do you think it works?"

The MBC president said people should see an alignment in the appointment of key government officials "because the moment people find a realignment, it already begins to raise attention to what is going on in the appointment process."

Besides Soliman’s case, Luz also lambasted the President’s reappointment of Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners Virgilio Garcillano and Manuel Barcelona, who both got a second ad-interim appointment last week.

"We need new blood in the Comelec and not old ones. We cannot understand how they were reappointed making the Comelec body still whole as before," he said.

Luz was also quick to point out that the department heads of several line agencies under the Arroyo administration have been performing well.

He cited, in particular, Secretaries Cesar Purisima of trade and industry, Luis Lorenzo of agriculture, Vicente Perez of energy, Patricia Sto. Tomas of labor, Edilberto de Jesus of education as well as Delia Albert of foreign affairs. According to Luz, these department heads have all been doing well in their respective tasks.