Puno declines offer to lead council for moral revolution

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Reynato Puno yesterday declined the invitation of former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to head the “Council for Moral Revolution.”

“I wish to thank you and the others for electing me in absentia as chairman of the Council for Moral Revolution. While I agree with the need for moral transformation of all of us, I regret to decline the position in view of the inhibitions of my office as Chief Justice,” Puno wrote De Venecia.

Reports earlier said that Puno was elected in absentia on Sunday night to chair the council which aims to fight corruption in government and other sectors of society.

De Venecia was chosen interim secretary general with Bishop Leo Alconga of the Jesus Is Lord Movement as his deputy.

A day after De Venecia launched his Council for Moral Revolution, Malacañang came up with its own National Reform Council (NRC) which was presented to President Arroyo during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting at the Palace.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the idea came from Commission on Higher Education chair Romulo Neri during one of their conversations, where he said that it would do well to come up with a National Reform Council or something similar to this.

But Neri immediately denied that it was his idea. While admitting that the proposal has been “broached” in Malacañang, Neri said he was not the one who raised it.

“I wouldn’t want to claim credit for that,” Neri told The STAR.

Neri also declined to elaborate on the plan. “I don’t want to talk about that yet,” he said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that he could not recall who proposed the idea but noted that Neri would have major inputs when this is in the final stages.

The proposed NRC was inevitably viewed as a response to De Venecia’s Council for Moral Revolution because of the timing of its creation.

De Venecia announced last Monday that his Council would engage in a campaign for moral revolution, starting with the need for the President to address corruption within her government.

The former House speaker has been pushing for a moral revolution since his son and namesake Jose de Venecia III implicated First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and other administration officials in the controversy over the $329-million national broadband network-ZTE Corp. deal.

According to Ermita, the NRC was not proposed to match the Council of De Venecia.

“We don’t have to compete with anybody to create such a council. The President is going to do anything that she thinks will be good for our people,” Ermita said. – With Marvin Sy, Rainier Allan Ronda, Christina Mendez