‘Hyatt 10’ member gets Petron seat

Less than a year after she joined calls of the so-called "Hyatt 10" for President Arroyo to resign, former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin is now a director at the country’s largest oil refinery, Petron Corp.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he saw nothing unusual in Boncodin’s election to the board of Petron, which is 40 percent owned by the government.

"The position was made available to her (Boncodin) and she accepted it," Ermita said, stressing that the Palace did not have a hand in Boncodin’s inclusion in the Petron board.

"She has served the government well," he added.

When asked whether there is no longer any rift between Malacañang and Boncodin, he said: "She accepted the post but I tell you I did not know about it until she was already there."

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Petron’s corporate secretary Luis Maglaya said Boncodin was elected in a special board meeting as independent director effective April 4.

Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio and Ermita earlier challenged the members of the "Hyatt 10" to disclose to the public whether they are still intact. Hyatt 10 refers to 10 members of Mrs. Arroyo’s Cabinet who resigned en masse in July last year and demanded that she step down over allegations of electoral fraud and corruption.

"We dare the Hyatt 10 to tell the public if there are in fact still 10 of them and who they are," Claudio said in reaction to a recent paid newspaper advertisement attributed to the group. "Unless they can at least show they themselves as intact, they have no business making arrogant but false assertions of representing the people and maligning the President."

Last June, former agrarian reform chief Rene Villa, a member of the Hyatt 10, was seen joining the President’s business delegation to Spain.

Claudio said the Hyatt 10 tag may no longer be accurate as some of their members have left the group or reconciled with the government.

In her State of the Nation Address last July, Mrs. Arroyo extended anew a hand of reconciliation to her political opponents and asked them to support the administration’s economic programs. — Paolo Romero