Senators slam Neri appointment

MANILA, Philippines – Senators raised a howl yesterday over the appointment of Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri as administrator of the Social Security System (SSS) effective Aug. 1, replacing Corazon de la Paz, whose resignation has been accepted by President Arroyo.

The senators said the move was unwise, especially since the country is facing turbulent times.

Senators Francis Escudero, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Manuel Roxas II, Jamby Madrigal and Panfilo Lacson slammed Neri’s appointment.

Escudero expressed concern that SSS funds might be used for political purposes. 

“I would not have made that appointment. These are turbulent times for the country. The stock market is volatile. The peso is losing steam. We are beset with global uncertainties,” Roxas said.

He added, “It is not time to appoint someone with minimal, real life work experience in the marketplace to sit atop the SSS which has nearly 30 million members. Besides, this appointment will just drive unneeded political controversy.”

Pimentel and Lacson lamented that Neri is being rewarded for his decision not to spill the beans against the Arroyo administration on the scrapped $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Pimentel said Mrs. Arroyo should just place Neri “under her bed” so that she can continuously monitor him.

Madrigal, on the other hand, criticized the President for her penchant to appoint officials with tainted backgrounds to key government posts.

More than meets the eye

De la Paz confirmed earlier on Wednesday that she submitted her resignation letter as early as June, but hinted that a “confluence of reasons” was behind her decision to step down after seven years as SSS chief.

She did not elaborate, however, but hinted there was politics involved in her sudden departure.

“Of course there’s always politics when you’re in government,” she admitted during an interview with ABS-CBN.

Despite her resignation, Dela Paz said she will stay on as SSS chief until July 31.

“I’ll stay till July 31 to implement a smooth transition to whoever will take over since there are major projects that are being finalized,” she said.

Dela Paz was named to the post in 2001 following Arroyo’s assumption of office. Her resignation came amid reports that there will be changes in the Cabinet to accommodate the President’s political allies who lost in last year’s elections.

Neri’s post will reportedly be turned over to former senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta, one of Arroyo’s staunchest allies who lost in the May 2007 senatorial elections.

Sources earlier tagged former senator Ralph Recto, who was head of the Senate ways and means committee during his term in the Senate, to go to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), which is being held by Augusto Santos in an acting capacity.

Neri was appointed to head the CHEd on a six-month term as a “trouble-shooter.” He, however, stayed longer after he got embroiled in the Senate hearings on the botched NBN scandal.

Neri to also head new social welfare body

Malacañang officials defended the President’s latest appointment of Neri amid questions on his qualifications and on the fact that he retained his Cabinet rank.

Neri’s appointment is also unusual in that he was given the task of overseeing the newly set up National Social Welfare Program that will consolidate the social welfare projects of six agencies including the SSS as contained in Administrative Order No. 232 issued by Mrs. Arroyo on Tuesday.

There were also suspicions that Neri’s Cabinet rank was retained so that he remains shielded from having to testify again in the Senate on the NBN-ZTE controversy, although the Supreme Court had already upheld his invoking executive privilege.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Neri can still invoke executive privilege even if he is now with the SSS.

“The President will always make appointments in accordance with her confidence in the capability of the official that she is appointing…and Secretary Neri is competent in the place where the President has appointed him,” Ermita said.

Neri has wide experience in economic matters, having served as director general of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office of the House of Representatives.

In July 2005, he was named secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and in February 2005, as director general of NEDA, also a Cabinet-level position.

“Secretary Neri is (also) a professor of Economics at the AIM (Asian Institute of Management). He’s very qualified. He’s an organization man, he has a very wide knowledge of the subject on the economy and therefore, it cannot be said Secretary Neri could be wanting in competence as far as running an office such as the SSS is concerned,” Ermita said.

He said there was nothing wrong with Neri having an added responsibility with the NSWP. Ermita said he also has other posts, such as the chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Council.

He also gave assurance that Neri would not jeopardize the billions in SSS funds as he manages the NSWP.

In Administrative Order no. 231 issued on June 30, Mrs. Arroyo reorganized the Cabinet clusters.

The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Cabinet Group will be composed of the Secretary General of the NAPC, and Secretaries of the Departments of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Education (DepEd), Health (DOH), Labor and Employment (DOLE), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Chairmen of the CHED, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the Commission on Filipino Overseas.

The NEDA Cabinet Group will be composed of the Director General of the NEDA, the Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, and the Secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture (DA), Budget and Management (DBM), Energy (DOE), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Finance (DOF), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Science and Technology (DOST), Tourism (DOT), Trade and Industry (DTI), Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the Chairmen of the Metro Manila Development Authority, Commission on Information and Communications Technology, and the Director General of the Presidential Management Staff.

The National Security Council (NSC) Cabinet Group will be composed of the National Security Adviser, and the Secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of National Defense (DND), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Justice (DOJ), the Press Secretary, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and the Director General of the Philippine Information Agency.

The NSC Executive Committee will be chaired by the President with the NSC Director General, and the Secretaries of the DILG, DND, and DOJ as members.

The Executive Secretary will be a member of all the Cabinet groups. —With reports from Christina Mendez, abs-cbn.News.com