(October 4, 2022) – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr has removed three members of his Cabinet, the new executive secretary said on Tuesday, but gave no explanation for their departure.
The president also reappointed 10 members of his Cabinet after the powerful bicameral Commission of Appointments bypassed them before Congress went on a month-long break.
In a photo posted in the government’s social media account, ten Cabinet members took their oaths of office again before the president. They were Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, and Human Settlements Secretary Jose Acuzar.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles was conspicuously absent.
Lucas Bersamin, a former Supreme Court chief justice who was appointed as executive secretary early this week, has an explanation.
He said his predecessor, Vic Rodriguez, and two other Cabinet members are no longer part of the president’s official family, confirming also that there will be no presidential chief of staff position. There was no administrative order creating that office.
He did not say why Rodriguez left the government.
When Marcos went to New York last month, Vic Rodriguez had issued a statement he had resigned from his position as executive secretary and would assume a new position as chief of staff.
Cruz-Angeles also issued a statement about the new position for Rodriguez but she too had left the Cabinet. She had tendered her resignation, said senior deputy executive secretary Hubert Guevarra.
In a separate statement, Cruz-Angeles said she resigned effective Tuesday due to “health reasons.”
Bersamin also announced the departure of lawyer Jose Calida as head of the Commission on Audit (COA).
Bersamin’s announcement of Rodriguez’ departure from government ended weeks of speculation on his fate after he announced he will continue to serve as chief of staff, a position which was questioned by political analysts.
Even Juan Ponce Enrile, the president’s chief presidential legal counsel, had questioned Rodriguez’s new position.
Eric de Torres, a political science professor at the University of the East, said the office could affect the stability of his administration in the long term due to possible power struggles with other agencies, particularly that of the executive secretary.
(MM | With reports from Maricel Halili, News5)
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