|
SENATORS
yesterday voiced serious misgivings over the legality of
Malacañang’s Administrative Order (AO) 232 that clusters
the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the
Social Security System (SSS) with other social-welfare
agencies to be headed by Commission on Higher Education
Chairman (CHED) Romulo Neri.
GSIS is
a pension fund for government employees and SSS for
those employed in the private sector. Between them, the
institutions oversee billions of pesos of workers’ trust
funds.
Senate
Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. warned that
“President Arroyo would be racheting up her blatant
defiance of the rule of law if she converts SSS and
GSIS into ‘slush funds’ at her whimsical disposal
through robotical subalterns like Neri.”
Pimentel
added that Mrs. Arroyo should be reminded “that SSS and
GSIS contributions are trust funds” of private and
government employees.
In a
separate statement, Sen. Mar Roxas II found it “unwise”
of Mrs. Arroyo to appoint Neri, who had been accused of
high-level cover- up by refusing to divulge vital
information on the anomalous $330-million national
broadband project scandal.
“I would
not have made that appointment… it is not the time to
appoint someone with minimal, real life work experience
in the marketplace to sit atop the SSS, which has nearly
30 million members,” he added
Roxas
said he is worried that Neri’s appointment “will just
drive unneeded political controversy.”
Opposition Sen. Francis Escudero pointed out Neri’s
dismal record in failing to uphold national interest
over the personal interest of the President. “Minsan
nang pinatunayan ni Secretary Neri na nilalagay
niya ang interes ng Pangulo ang mas mataas kesa sa
interes ng sambayanan ng kanyang ikinubli ang
katotohanan at ginamit ang executive privilege.”
Escudero
said he is afraid of the possible consequences once Neri
is installed as SSS chief.
Should
Neri take over the SSS, Escudero expressed hope that SSS
funds would not be spent for political activities or for
the interests of the few. “Kung siya nga ang
itatalaga, nawa’y huwag magamit ang pondo ng SSS
para sa pamumulitika, para sa interes ng iilan, at iisa
lamang dapat ang konsiderasyon kung siya nga ang
mamumuno nyan: ang interes ng mga miyembro at ma-secure
ang pondo nila at hindi malustay o magamit sa
pamumulitika.”
Meanwhile, Malacañang said that Neri is the best
replacement for SSS administrator Corazon de la
Paz-Bernardo, who is leaving the post this month for the
private sector.
Press
Secretary Jesus Dureza said in a statement Neri will
assume his new job—his fourth in the Arroyo
administration—on August 1.
“[De la
Paz-Bernardo] earlier sent a letter of resignation to
the President expressing her desire to return to the
private sector. The President accepted her resignation
and cited her for the leadership, reforms and
initiatives she did as SSS chief,” Dureza said.
Neri
will head the newly launched National Social Welfare
Program with Cabinet rank, as provided by AO 232, that
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said was personally
“crafted” by President Arroyo on July 8, 2008.
Neri
began his career in the Arroyo administration as
director general of the National Economic and
Development Authority (Neda) in 2002, then as budget
secretary after Emilia Boncodin resigned with the rest
of the so-called Hyatt 10 Cabinet secretaries in 2005.
He was
returned to Neda when the President appointed Rolando
Andaya Jr. as budget chief in 2006. After that, Neri was
named chairman CHED, in July 2007, as a “troubleshooter”
for six months.
Asked
why the President chose Neri for the job, Ermita said in
his weekly news conference, “Everyone knows the
competence of Secretary Neri as an economist and as an
executive.”
He noted
that Neri used to work with the National Budget Planning
Office in the House of Representatives for sometime and
is an economics professor of the Asian Institute of
Management.
“He’s
very qualified, he’s an organization man; he has very
wide knowledge of the economy…,” Ermita said.
He added
that the President “will always make appointments in
accordance with her confidence in the capability of the
officials that she is appointing. Secretary Neri is
competent in the place where the President has appointed
him, to be SSS administrator.”
Ermita
declined to say who would replace Neri but recalled the
usual practice of Mrs. Arroyo to designate the next in
command—in this case, Commissioner Nona Ricafort—in an
acting capacity until a permanent appointee is found.
“In all
probability, as soon as Secretary Neri is effectively
out of CHED, appointment can be made for OIC or acting
CHED. But I am not privy to it, I’m just telling you my
experience before,” he said. |
