MANILA, Philippines – Cabinet officials who have become a liability to President Aquino should follow the example of resigned Tourism Undersecretary Vicente Romano II, Malacañang said yesterday.
Romano, the official behind the much-criticized “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” promotion program of the Department of Tourism, tendered his irrevocable resignation in an effort to put an end to the controversy.
“The President appreciated the act of Undersecretary Romano in admitting the mistakes. It was an honorable gesture on his part and in fact, he respected Undersecretary Romano for what he did,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing.
“Again, number one, we are all serving at the pleasure of the President. We bask in his trust and confidence and I think it behooves any Cabinet official and any government official to see that if he has become a liability then he should do the honorable thing as what Undersecretary Romano did,” Lacierda said.
But Lacierda said quitting would be the personal decision of appointees.
Two of those who had been highly criticized recently were Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno for the botched negotiations during the Aug. 23 hostage crisis and Assistant Secretary Carmen Mislang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office for her tweets about Vietnam while the President was there on a state visit and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
“Basically, I think Undersecretary Romano has put up a standard of public service,” Lacierda said.
Asked whether Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim should also resign, Lacierda said Romano had explained the circumstances and had taken full responsibility for the logo fiasco.
“So he knew about it and was the one who ran it. He was the one who oversaw that and there are many responsibilities that Secretary Lim has. So on the tourism logo, he let Undersecretary Romano undertake that project. That’s why in his statement, Undersecretary Romano admitted that he was the responsible official who undertook that project and therefore he admitted his mistakes and offered to resign,” Lacierda said.
Good example
Lacierda said the Palace was pleased with the reaction over the resignation of Romano.
“It shows that this administration has the standards required of each public official — that of decency, accountability,” Lacierda said.
He said during a meeting, the President, Lim and Romano discussed the need for accountability and that was when the undersecretary offered to resign.
“The President thanked him and although with reluctance, he accepted the resignation. But what he did is a good example for public officials,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda reiterated that Romano decided to come home and offer his resignation when he learned about the reaction of the Filipino people to the logo while he was in the United States.
“They just talked a bit and the President thanked him and accepted his resignation,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda denied Romano was made the sacrificial lamb to save Lim.
“There are some sectors in the tourism industry who are against Secretary Lim from the very beginning. They are against his views on the liberalized air policies, open skies and this is just a convenient excuse for them to use this issue against Secretary Lim. If you read the statement of Undersecretary Romano, it was very clear that he took full responsibility. He admitted the mistakes, he showed where the mistakes were committed. And so, as a result, Undersecretary Romano decided to take it upon himself and resign,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda also said that there was no launching of the logo but only a preview although close to P5 million had already been spent for it, based on reports.
“Expenses would have to be made because there’s an event and we were expecting a response definitely, that’s why it was being previewed. Unfortunately, the response here was negative,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda added that the Palace remained confident that Lim would get the nod of the Commission on Appointments despite the controversy.
Delicadeza
Even lawmakers praised Romano for exercising delicadeza in the controversy over the much-criticized slogan.
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said just because Romano resigned, “there cannot be any kind of automatic construal of gross wrongdoing.”
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone also lauded Romano, saying he was a “tough act to follow especially to those who cling to their posts even if they have obviously become a burden to P-Noy’s administration.”
No rush
The DOT, for its part, stressed yesterday that it is in no rush to come out with a new slogan to lure more foreign tourists to the country.
Lim said they are not setting a time frame and would rather go through the long process of consultation before launching a new tourism slogan.
According to Lim, the DOT will now undertake broad consultation with tourism stakeholders before deciding on a slogan.
As this developed, the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines Inc. cautioned the Tourism Congress against wasting funds and efforts for a program that would eventually be nullified. – With Paolo Romero, Mayen Jaymalin