Noy: Lacson, Pangilinan to get Cabinet posts

President Aquino confirmed yesterday that outgoing Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan – who are both his political allies – will definitely get posts in his government, but that all details should be settled and finalized first.

“I offered Cabinet posts to both gentlemen and, of course, until after we have agreed on all the details, nothing is final yet,” Aquino told Palace reporters in a chance interview, shortly after receiving P28 billion in dividends from governmentowned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Aquino said he is “not yet” prepared to discuss in public what are the posts he will be giving Lacson and Pangilinan, although they have agreed on a “general idea” of what their participation will be in the second half of the Aquino administration.

“The details should really be ripe. We have an agreement, in general, but we don’t have the specifics yet for us to have a clearer picture on what our terms of engagement will be,” he said.

Pangilinan yesterday said he is thankful for the President’s trust, although they haven’t discussed the details of his Cabinet posting.

Palace insiders said that last month, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. was tasked to come up with an executive order creating a specific law enforcement office whose main objective is to rid the bureaucracy of the so-called rotten eggs.

The only problem is that this agency – composed of at least 400 people – should not make the job of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales redundant in terms of its anti-corruption mandate, sources said.

Reliable sources also revealed that the Executive Order No. 8 that former President Joseph Estrada issued in July 1998, creating the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), “may be revived” by Malacañang.

This was the same PAOCTF that Lacson headed, except for few possible modifications.

At the height of the campaign period last March, Aquino confirmed that both Lacson and Pangilinan will definitely join the executive department as soon as their terms in the Senate expire on June 30.

The Chief Executive did not give specific details, however, except to say that Pangilinan – a stalwart of the ruling Liberal Party – has been consulting with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala for “quite sometime” for the post that he will be assuming.

Aquino said that Pangilinan has several aspects of the agricultural sector that he wants to concentrate on.

“I’m sure that Secretary Alcala will want his inputs and his efforts, especially since agriculture is one of our priorities and there are so many things that have to be done, hopefully, in the quickest possible time,” Aquino said.

On the other hand, Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, will have a more general role.