Abad defends appointment of Sarmiento to DILG

MACTAN, Philippines  – Liberal Party secretary- general Mel Senen Sarmiento’s appointment as interior secretary was not meant for the party to gain ad- vantage in the 2016 elections, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“I think it has to do more with the qualifications of the appointee,” he told reporters yesterday.

“I am sure you very well know that he spent quite a good time in the local governments and he was the president of the League of Cities for quite some time, and he has been very active going around the country engaging local governments and civil society groups. So I think it’s an appropriate appointment.”

Abad was here with President Aquino and other officials for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers’ meeting.

Aquino named the Western Samar lawmaker to re- place Manuel Roxas II, the LP standard bearer in next year’s presidential polls. The secretary of the interior exercises supervision over local government units and serves as chairman of the National Police Commission, which oversees the Philippine National Police.

Meanwhile, Abad said they are still in the process of completing the administration ticket.

“As the President said earlier, we are still looking forward to Sen. Grace Poe (to be the running mate of Roxas),” he said.

“Of course, there are other options in case that doesn’t work out. There are quite a number of senatorial aspirants who want to be in the administration coalition so it’s really not a problem in that sense. But, you know, the President feels that ‘if you can bring in Sen. Grace Poe and her group into the coalition, that will simplify the problem and unite those elements that are, you know, supportive of daang matuwid (straight path) policy of the President.”