Monday, March 06, 2006
Guv sacked as dev't council chair
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo removed South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes as chair of the Regional Development Council in the Soccsksargen region, officials confirmed.
In an order dated January 25, the President designated Koronadal City Mayor Fernando Miguel to replace Fuentes as the new acting development council chair.
Fuentes was instead reappointed as the council's co-chair but the governor immediately declined her new appointment.
Hadja Sittie Mariam Lim, concurrent development council vice chair, said the transmittal letter from the National Economic and Development Authority central office that came with the appointment letters only cited "presidential decision" as basis for the change in the council's leadership.
It cited that a similar decision was also made recently for the Regional Development Council in the Cagayan Valley region.
Lim said her office officially received the transmittal letter and the appointment papers last February 22 but they delayed serving the documents for proper verification.
Fuentes, who supported the President during the 2004 elections but distanced herself from the administration when the "Hello Garci" controversy heated up last year, said she was not surprised with her removal as the development council's chair.
Fuentes said the moment she and South Cotabato Representative Arthur Pingoy, both stalwarts of the opposition Nationalist People's Coalition, decided to endorse the President's impeachment last year "we anticipated that we will have to pay for it."
The governor said she did not hesitate to accept such decision since it is a prerogative of the President.
Fuentes said she declined her new appointment as the council's co-chair to avoid creating a confusion regarding the organizational structure of the development council.
Fuentes assumed as the council's chair in August 2004 after she was unanimously endorsed by its 33 regular members. She replaced Cotabato City mayor Muslimin Sema, who then did not opt to seek another term. (Allen V. Estabillo)
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(March 6, 2006 issue)
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