LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines – Former Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo is likely to get a post in the national housing agencies, according to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.
Speaking with The STAR, Salceda said Robredo was originally offered to head offices under the National Housing Authority before talks about his being named to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) cropped up.
Salceda admitted though that Robredo’s name remained in the list of those still being considered by President Aquino for the DILG’s top post.
“I do not know exactly whether (Mr.) Aquino will give Robredo the DILG or the NHA post,” he said.
Salceda said he told Robredo that he would be given a post, not necessarily as interior secretary.
“Of course it will be President Aquino who will have the final say on who to appoint in what post in his Cabinet,” he said.
Salceda, a close ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before he joined the Liberal Party, spoke to The STAR after the oath taking of Legazpi City Mayor Geraldine Rosal yesterday.
Earlier, Robredo told reporters in Legazpi City that Mr. Aquino had invited him to join his Cabinet as interior secretary.
Meanwhile, former senator Victor Ziga told The STAR he would not ask for any position but would wait for the President to offer him one.
“I will not present myself because I want him to exercise his prerogative in selecting his officials,” he said.
In 1986, Ziga was named minister of general services by President Corazon Aquino.
Ziga was a godson of Mrs. Aquino and Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
A major thoroughfare in Naga City was named Corazon Aquino Avenue a few days after her death on Aug. 1, 2009.
In 1984, a year after Ninoy’s assassination, Pedro Marcellana Jr., then the mayor of Daraga, Albay and a Liberal Party member, renamed the Daraga Park as Benigno Aquino Jr. Park.