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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
President Gloria Arroyo has appointed former Senator Ralph Recto as
director general of the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA), Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced Wednesday.
Despite Recto’s appointment,
Ermita said, Augusto Santos, the acting NEDA chief, will continue to
stay at the agency as deputy director general. President Arroyo has
forwarded Recto’s appointment papers to Congress for approval by
the Commission on Appointments, he added.
Santos occupied the top NEDA post
in an acting capacity, replacing former chief Romulo Neri, who was
moved to head the Commission on Higher Education and was later
appointed as president of the Social Security System.
He said the appointment of Recto
is a “presidential prerogative.”
“I serve at the pleasure of the
President. I am a career official, a CESO [Career Executive Service
Officer] and with [Recto’s] appointment, I shall go back to my
former post as Deputy Director General of NEDA,” he added in a
statement.
According to Santos, NEDA “has
always been known for its professionalism, so I am confident that it
will continue to perform its mandate as the country’s premier
socioeconomic planning body to the best of its abilities under a new
head.”
Ermita—who also hails from
Batangas—justified Recto’s appointment, saying he is qualified
for the job. “He’s qualified . . . I mean, he’s an economist
for one thing, you know,” Ermita said, when asked why Recto was
named to the position.
Recto was the former chairman of
the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the author of the
Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) law.
He is a graduate of Commerce from De La Salle University and has two
master’s degrees—in Public Administration from the University of
the Philippines in Diliman, another in Strategic Business Economics
from the University of Asia and the Pacific.
He is the husband of movie mega-
star and now Batangas governor, Vilma Santos. Her name has been
floated as a likely vice-presidential contender in the 2010 national
elections and possibly a runningmate of Vice President Noli de
Castro.
Recto is the latest losing
senatorial candidate who ran under the administration’s Team Unity
last year to get a government post. The President earlier appointed
former Senator Vicente Sotto 3rd to head the Dangerous Drugs Board.
She also appointed Michael Defensor, another defeated administration
senatorial candidate, to oversee the newly opened Ninoy Aquino
International Airport Terminal 3.
There are also unverified reports
that other defeated administration senatorial bets will be appointed
to top government posts, such as Teresa Aquino Oreta being eyed to
hold the post of Education secretary and Prospero Pichay Jr. to head
the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
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