The Duterte cabinet revamp
The deadline of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy ends this week, which tells you that in the next few months, we will have politicians as guests of Straight from the Sky as we give an idea to our faithful televiewers of who will be seeking for your votes when May 2019 comes. Of course, we will feature on this channel all political parties and positions being sought by politicians.
So first on the list we bring you an old politician and a new one. The old is former Congressman Antonio “Tony” Cuenco who is seeking the post of Cebu City Councilor. I believe that Tony’s career, as a 25-year-old Congressman would be a boon to the Cebu City Council where decorum is seriously lacking. Tony can teach future congressmen how things operate in the national level. So his entry as councilor is a plus factor.
Our other guest is Mr. Ernest Herrera. He is the son of the late Sen. Boy Herrera whose years in the Senate helped the nation heal itself from the 14 years of Martial Law. Ernest is still very young, but we need to have a young blood like him in the halls of the Cebu City Council. His plan is to be of great help to persons with disabilities (PWD), which is also my advocacy. Both Ernest and Tony Cuenco belong to the Barug PDP- Laban Local Party. But in fairness to the other parties, we too shall invite them to this talkshow.
So please watch our initial political guests on our talkshow tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8:00 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00 p.m. Monday and at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.
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There is no doubt that the deadline for the filing of Certificates of Candidacies has caused a massive revamp in the Duterte Cabinet. But before we take on these individuals, allow me to congratulate Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio for accepting his automatic nomination to be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court since Chief Justice Teresita De Castro retired last October 10. Justice Carpio had earlier declined his nomination to the chief justice post that was made vacant after former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was ousted tough a quo warranto case. Carpio cited “Delicadeza,” saying he wanted to stay consistent with his vote on the quo warranto. Now finally he has accepted this post and will be our next Chief Justice.
The bigger news on this cabinet revamp became news when Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte appointed Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. to replace Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who will run for congressman in Taguig City in next year’s elections. Locsin said: “I will be secretary of foreign affairs which includes the UN; I will have a direct hand until the architecture of sovereign independence in all matters of state that my team started to erect is remitted. Talent that doesn’t exist outside DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) will complete it.” So who will be the next Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN is still up for grabs.
Right now there are nearly 320 seats in the two-chamber legislature and more than 17,000 local government positions, from 81 provincial gover-nors to about 1,600 municipal councilors, will be contested nationwide. The next big fish to join the revamp of the Duterte cabinet is Malacañang spokes-man Harry Roque.
If I have issues with Roque it is a question of his credibility. For instance, he promised to help support my infra project, which is the parallel road to Escario Street. But now he is leaving Malacañang I’m sure that this road is gone! On his job as spokesman, people often ask, “Is that the President talking or is it Harry?” This is the present problem in Malacañan Press Office, which has now been turned over to Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, who will also serve as President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson in concurrent capacity.
Sec. Panelo’s appointment was effective Thursday, October 11, since Roque had gone on leave after Duterte admitted that he wants his top lawyer to lead the Office of the Press Secretary, which is expected to be re-established soon through an executive order. Sec. Panelo, in a separate interview, said his new role as Duterte’s chief legal counsel and spokesperson is nothing new. “Nothing has changed since day one of the presidential campaign of the President, I was already his spokesperson, and day one, when he assumed presidency, I was also his spokesperson,” he said. So there’s the Duterte Cabinet revamp for you!
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