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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
Corazon de la Paz stays as president and chief
executive officer of the private pension fund, Social Security
System (SSS), a Palace official said Tuesday, denying talks that she
is leaving by the end of the month.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza also belied talks
circulating that Chairman Romulo Neri of the Commission on Higher
Education is poised to replace de la Paz.
“There is still no official statement about
that [de la Paz leaving the pension fund], and it is not being
discussed among Palace officials,” Dureza told The Manila Times in
a text message.
Dureza said Malacañang will immediately inform
the media in case President Gloria Arroyo announces a change in the
leadership of SSS.
But when pressed by reporters about possible
realignment in some government posts, particularly the reappointment
of Neri, the Press Secretary replied, “Let’s just wait for the
official statement.”
Palace Deputy Spokesman Anthony Golez said talks
about de la Paz exiting the private pension fund are completely
“untrue,” and that President Arroyo was not planning to take her
out from SSS.
“Those circulating messages are not true and
have no basis. They are just rumors,” he told The Times also in a
text message.
Neri was Socioeconomic Planning Secretary when
Mrs. Arroyo moved him to his current post. The transfer took place
at the height of a controversy linking him to alleged fraud in the
approval of a $330-million broadband network deal with China’s ZTE
Corp. The deal has since been scrapped by the President on
accusations of bribery that also dragged the First Family and former
poll chief Benjamin Abalos Sr.
Neri could not be reached for comment, as his
mobile phone was turned off when The Times tried calling. Officials
at SSS echoed the Palace line.
New cluster head
Dureza appeared to be giving hints about a
possible shake-up when he commented on the designation by Mrs.
Arroyo of de la Paz as head of a government cluster that will
address rising oil and food prices.
He said the head of the newly formed cluster is
given a Cabinet rank by the President and will apply to “whoever
heads the SSS.”
Mrs. Arroyo, in an administrative order, noted
that existing programs of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development, Department of Health, Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS), SSS and other agencies dealing with social welfare
will be clustered together into a national social-welfare program
that “will directly address the impact of the adverse global
environment.”
The government plans to work hard in the next
two years to fulfill its reform agenda, the President said, adding
that the government could be more effective in helping the most
vulnerable sector if efforts target particular areas.
In her opening statement at the Cabinet meeting
on Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo said the social-welfare program will be
carried out through “a package of social measures and strategies
that would enhance food production for the poor now reeling from the
high prices of oil and food.”
The National Anti-Poverty Commission will devise
the program to incorporate the existing programs of the Health and
Social Welfare departments, GSIS, SSS and the other government
agencies.
The President said the government will continue
with ongoing programs such as the distribution of rice to school
children, conditional cash transfers to poor families and
cooperation with bus and jeepney operators to ease the burden of
high fuel prices on commuters.
She added that the National Food and Energy
Council would also meet to revise programs to enhance rice
production until the end of the year.
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