Rodriguez denies resignation yarn
‘The moment you said yes, it is automatic that you are accepting that anytime you will be asked to leave, but until that happens then you stay, right?’
Lawyer Vic Rodriguez on Friday denied he has resigned as Executive Secretary (ES) under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“I am still here in my office... I am just here. I hardly go out,” Rodriguez told Malacañang reporters who paid a courtesy call on him.
“I don’t know how the rumor started,” he said when asked about an online report claiming that he has quit his post due to “pressure” from Marcos’s “inner circle.”
In the online report, it was stated that Rodriguez was criticized for allegedly being “unfit” to be the top-ranking official of the Office of the President, nicknamed the “Little President.”
Rodriguez said he and the Cabinet members accepted the nomination of the President to help him “serve and run the country.”
“But all of us in the Cabinet, regardless of the portfolio that we are holding or handling, I think it must be clear that the moment he or she accepts the nomination and request coming from the President, we have to help him serve and run the country,” he said.
“The moment you said yes, it is automatic that you are accepting that anytime you will be asked to leave, but until that happens then you stay, right?”
“Your acceptance to the nomination is not one-way. If you accept the nomination, it is implied in the written agreement that anytime you may be also asked to leave,” he added.
The official said, “it is clear” for all Cabinet members that their positions are “not permanent.”
“All those serving under President Marcos that the moment the President asked you to serve under his leadership, it goes without saying that there’s no permanence.”
Rodriguez has been serving as Marcos’ spokesperson and legal counsel before the former senator ascended to the presidency.
When asked about possible reasons that would make him resign, Rodriguez said: “I don’t want to think about it. But of course, for health reasons. Of course, family reasons. That’s why I am saying I don’t want to think about those reasons because I don’t want to get sick.”
“I don’t think anyone of us here wants to get sick. And the moment you cite that as a reason to your employer something must be seriously wrong with your health.”
The 48-year-old lawyer and Marcos’ long-time chief of staff was credited for the successful and smooth conduct of the latter’s presidential campaign.
In the Philippine government, the ES is considered the head and the top-ranking official of the Office of the President, thus the office-holder is nicknamed the “Little President.”
An ES is a member of the President’s Cabinet and would directly assist the President in the management of affairs of the government and control the operations of the Executive Office.
Executive Secretaries are usually lawyers like Salvador Medialdea (Duterte administration), Paquito Ochoa Jr. (Noynoy Aquino administration), Alberto Romulo (Macapagal-Arroyo administration), Edgardo Angara (Estrada administration) and Ronaldo Zamora (Estrada administration).