Mar eyed as next DOTC chief

Manila, Philippines - President Aquino is eyeing former senator Manuel Roxas II as replacement for Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus, who is set to step down on July 1, Malacañang sources said yesterday.

“It’s possible,” a Palace source said. Roxas is supposedly the incoming presidential chief of staff but the administrative order defining his official title and functions has yet to be released.

Sen. Francis Escudero, who is known to be part of the Samar Group, a rival of the Balay Group led by Roxas during the campaign, also suggested that Roxas be made secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) rather than chief of staff to prevent a power struggle within the Palace.

Escudero and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. were part of the Samar Group. Roxas could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Newsbreak online quoted unidentified sources as saying that Roxas had turned down the offer to head the DOTC.

Newsbreak said, however, that the offer came at a time when Roxas had already clarified the parameters of his presidential chief-of-staff functions.

On Wednesday, Ochoa told reporters that discussions were still ongoing to determine the “official title and functions” of Roxas.

Ochoa said the Palace was dealing with Roxas’ appointment “in a more appropriate manner” and with “enough circumspection” in relation to laws that created existing government positions and offices.

“We’re still discussing details of his (Roxas) official functions and probably that will be the time to really decide on his official title,” Ochoa said. “We’re being careful and we’re exercising enough circumspection in dealing with it.”

According to Ochoa, Malacañang is looking at a specific title and function that can remain relevant even after the end of the term of the administration to strengthen the structural organization and the bureaucracy.

“Some positions are well defined in the law, some are not, so that’s what we are trying to fix here and we’re hoping that in the administrative aspect of things, this time we’ll come up with better definition of functions,” Ochoa said.

“We fix something not based on personalities, not to make things suitable for us per se or for this administration. We fix something to hopefully make the right way of structure, organization and staffing that even after this administration, it can be useful,” he said.

“It should not refer to any particular administration but it should refer rather to what can really work for this country in terms of administering government,” he added.

Only for one year

Meanwhile, President Aquino stressed on Wednesday in Brunei that De Jesus had intended to serve his administration only for a year.

“I was shy about asking him to stay for another year. The fact that he agreed to serve in my Cabinet was something that I should really be thankful for,” he told reporters in an interview at the residence of Ambassador Nestor Ochoa.

“I asked him if he could join my Cabinet if I won, and he told me, ‘I hope you would lose’,” he said.

He said De Jesus, who is in his 80s, did not have enough sleep because of the rigors of the job.

Aquino said De Jesus was instrumental in the post-Marcos infrastructure boom. De Jesus had also served in his mother’s Cabinet in the ‘80s.

The President also belied speculations that he was referring to De Jesus when he talked about an underperforming Cabinet official. “No, it’s not true. It’s not Ping,” he said.

“The DOTC head is a position that requires my utmost trust. He has to be compulsive in trying to ferret out everything,” the President said.

Escudero, for his part, downplayed reports that De Jesus’ resignation has triggered a power struggle or had been a result of one, among the President’s men.

“We still don’t know the reason behind his resignation. And I think it’s not right to say that there’s a power struggle in the President’s inner circle,” he said in Filipino.

He said Aquino has the last say on policy issues, including appointments.

Escudero is generally supportive of the administration but has shown his displeasure at what he considers a snail-paced implementation of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects.

“It’s been a year (since Aquino assumed office), but have we seen at least one PPP project that materialized?” the senator asked. With Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla