Noy to keep Abad, DAR chief

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will not accede to the request of a political ally in the House of Representatives to replace Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes because they still enjoy his trust and confidence, a Palace official said.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. yesterday said Aquino would not heed the call of Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello to remove Abad and Delos Reyes from the Cabinet.

Bello wants the two Cabinet members removed over the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional and the failure of the agrarian reform program.

“The President still has confidence in Secretary Abad and Secretary Delos Reyes,” he said.

Coloma said Akbayan continues to be an ally of the administration and has been very supportive of Aquino’s reform agenda, as per assurance given by one of the party-list group’s leaders, presidential adviser for political affairs Ronald Llamas.

He explained that even allies are free to air their sentiments against the administration if they want to.

Last July 11, Aquino rejected the courtesy resignation that Abad submitted and stood by the controversial purported stimulus program called DAP.

The Chief Executive made the announcement when he convened a meeting of all the Cabinet members, where the proposed 2015 national budget was presented by the Department of Budget and Management chief.

“Secretary Abad gave me a letter tendering his resignation from the Cabinet and I have considered the same and I have decided not to accept his resignation,” he told the Cabinet members at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang.

Aquino, who has since been under extreme pressure to fire Abad, explained why he has decided to keep Abad, a close family friend and stalwart of the ruling Liberal Party.

He said it is important for the public to know that “even our most vociferous critics grant that DAP has benefited our people” despite the adverse SC ruling.

“To accept his (Abad’s) resignation is to assign to him a wrong and I cannot accept the notion that doing right by our people is a wrong,” Aquino had said.

Palace denies Hyatt 10 lobbying

Early this month, Malacanang denied reports that Aquino’s sisters lobbied for the replacement of Abad, while members of the so-called “Hyatt 10” supposedly threatened to resign if Abad is removed.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said she consulted and verified such information from Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, one of the Hyatt 10, who denied that such scenario ever existed.

“I spoke to Secretary Soliman. The events detailed by the anonymous and unidentified source never happened,” she explained in a text message.

The Hyatt 10 is a group of Cabinet and senior government officials who withdrew support from former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005 at the height of allegations that she rigged the results of the May 2004 presidential polls.