The call was made by Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) Reps. Prospero Pichay of Surigao del Sur, House contingent head to the Commission on Appointments (CA), and Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado of Bulacan, chairman of the House committee on small business enterprises and entrepreneurship development.
Both Pichay and Alvarado said presidential appointees to the Cabinet should prove their worthiness for the position.
More than track record and experience, Pichay and Alvarez said, the new Cabinet officials should show actual performance in the delivery of needed services to the people to justify their appointments.
In performing their new duties, the appointees should emulate the President’s work ethic and commitment to serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and display the same sense of urgency in solving the nation’s problems, Pichay said. "The President needs hardworking and dedicated officials to help her implement her agenda of good governance and development to the people. It is not enough that her appointees should have sterling records. They should deliver more and perform better under her administration," he said.
Pending the CA deliberations, he said, the new Cabinet officials should bare their plans and programs for the people to determine if these are consistent with the President’s 10-point agenda.
Alvarado said that since the appointees are expected to serve over a span of six years, it is important to scrutinize their plans and programs.
"We want continuity of the President’s pro-poor programs over the past three years but, at the same time, we have recognized the need for more development programs. It is therefore imperative that the officials’ plans suit the President’s agenda," Alvarado said.
Alvarado said since the creation of six to ten million jobs is a priority agenda of the President, the new officials should bare their individual programs for realizing this goal.
In a related development, middle-level executives of the Department of Agriculture have expressed "great enthusiasm" for working with new Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who took his oath of office Friday.
In a statement, DA Undersecretary for livestock and fisheries Cesar Drilon welcomed this opportunity "to work with a dynamic and progressive public servant who had achieved so much in previous assignments."
According to Drilon, Yap’s "years of public service in the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) and the National Food Authority (NFA) have been a good background for his present job."
DA Undersecretary for field operations Edmund Sana said Yap "may just be the leader needed to turn the agriculture sector around. Judging by the letters of support sent to him by the farmer groups, millers, grain retailers, peasant groups and the local officials, the agriculture sector nurtures high hopes for his tenure in the DA. We share their enthusiasm and are ready to support his programs."