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Sunday, August 26, 2007
Cabinet junks suspension of colleague
MANILA -- The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) had recommended the suspension of a Cabinet member but the Cabinet’s committee on peers “disregarded” it as it was just a “first offense.”
Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Cerge Remonde confirmed this Saturday as he said the “offense” was failure to answer correspondence in 15 days.
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“This Cabinet member is most unlikely and among those who have been quite efficient. That’s why I found it ironic,” Remonde said in an interview on government-run radio station dzRB.
He refused to name the Cabinet member but occasionally referred to the official as a “she” before referring to the Cabinet member as “he or she.”
When pressed to describe the Cabinet secretary, he would only say the official recommended suspended “has a reputation of being loved.”
Remonde said the PAGC recommended a two-month suspension but he said the secretary may have referred the matter to an undersecretary or assistant secretary.
“Our resolution was to just reprimand the secretary,” he said.
He also said this should also be a lesson to other Cabinet members to answer their communications in 15 days.
On the other hand, Remonde said the Cabinet member was the only one whose case the Cabinet committee on peers under him had tackled and he has yet to see the other cases reportedly handled by the PAGC against four Cabinet officials.
Remonde said he chairs the Cabinet committee on peers, with Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. and Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chairman Romulo Neri as members.
“We can promise the public, we will not sit on these cases. We meet every week after Cabinet meetings. As of now we have yet to encounter a serious case,” he said. (Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (August 26, 2007 issue)
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