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There is no Cabinet shake-up, and that’s that.
Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita emphasized this point Monday as he sought to put an end to
reports of a high-level reshuffle that have been in the news since
last week.
Ermita said there was no order
from President Arroyo for her Cabinet chiefs to submit their
courtesy resignations, but to help put the issue to rest all
resignation letters already forwarded to the Office of the President
would be considered.
He said he had been misquoted
last week when he was asked about the courtesy resignation of the
heads of government-owned and -controlled corporations, and
state-run financial institutions.
He said the general instruction
of the President is clear: once a letter reaches Malacañang it
would be validated to determine whether the resignation of the
particular official would be accepted or rejected.
He explained last week he
recommended to the President the interim appointment of 12 Cabinet
officials who were not confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.
He denied reports that some
Cabinet officials would be transferred to other positions. The
reports referred in particular to Revenue Commissioner Mario Bunag
and Customs chief Napoleon Morales.
Bunag reportedly was in danger of
losing his post following the big drop in tax collections in the
first two quarters of this year.
But Bunag insisted it was too
early to determine whether the BIR had failed to achieve its
collection target for the year.
The Department of Finance said
the BIR was P9.5-million short of target as of March.
Morales’ powers were said to
have been clipped by Malacañang when it ordered the creation of the
Presidential Antismuggling Group headed by Undersecretary Antonio
Villar Jr.
The PASG was directed by Mrs.
Arroyo to assist the Bureau of Customs in running after smuggling
syndicates.
 --Sam
Mediavilla
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