Boncodin still for GMA resignation, says Soliman

Former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin still believes that President Arroyo should resign in the wake of the unresolved legitimacy issues hounding her, according to former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman.

"She is still for the President’s resignation. We — those belonging to the Hyatt 10 — remain firm in our position that the President should resign. None of us has changed his or her stand," Soliman told reporters yesterday.

She was commenting on reports that Boncodin had been elected to the board of directors of Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner that is 40-percent owned by the government.

Following the former budget secretary’s election, there were speculations that she has abandoned her Hyatt 10 colleagues and has reconciled with Mrs. Arroyo.

Soliman and Boncodin are members of the Hyatt 10 — the group of 10 Cabinet members and senior officials led by former finance secretary Cesar Purisima who quit the Arroyo administration on July 8, 2005 and called for the President’s resignation.

The group also included Florencio Abad, who was education secretary; Juan Santos, trade secretary; Guillermo Parayno, commissioner of internal revenue; and Alberto Lina, Customs commissioner.

Soliman said Boncodin has informed their group that Petron chairman Nicasio Alcantara has offered her a seat in the Petron board.

She said Alcantara, a close friend of Mrs. Arroyo and head of the government team in Petron, informed Boncodin that she would not be a government representative but would be an "independent director."

Responding to questions, Soliman said she did not know if Alcantara or the government team in Petron nominated the former budget secretary to the board.

She said her former colleague has told her that she would soon explain her election to the high-paying post of Petron director.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has said the administration had no hand in Boncodin’s election to the post.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Boncodin "is imbued with solid professional credentials. The fact that she is back on board should not be an occasion for anyone to sow intrigue."

"There is always time to rebuild trust and confidence when the people’s interest calls for it. We welcome Miss Boncodin back in the team and will be happy to work with her again," Bunye said.

Two administration allies in the House welcomed the news about the former budget chief’s new job.

"She deserves it," Representatives Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque and Isidoro Real of Zamboanga del Sur said in a joint statement.

"Considering Boncodin’s talent and track record, it would have been such a waste had she not been given another chance to serve," they said.

They added that Boncodin’s election to the Petron board should not be given political color.

However, they pointed out that though Ermita has denied that the government had a hand in the new job of the former budget secretary, there was nothing wrong if Malacañang was wooing its estranged officials as part of its efforts to reconcile with its detractors. — Jess Diaz, AFP