Aquino names Roxas DOTC chief

Yahoo Philippines - President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III appoints his 2010 elections running mate Mar Roxas to a newly-vacated Cabinet post.

Aquino himself issued a statement Tuesday that the former Senator has accepted his offer, at the same time reiterating that Roxas is still part of his economic cluster as a “senior member.”

Roxas will replace former Secretary Ping de Jesus who resigned last week. Four other undersecretaries resigned from the DOTC to give way to the choices of the new department chief.

The president said he earlier had other plans for Roxas but he couldn’t find any other person fitted to the DOTC post.

“Kailangan ng taong magpapatuloy ng mga repormang nagsisimula na sa DOTC. Hindi puwedeng magtiwala tayo sa kung sinu-sino para palitan ang pinuno nito (We need someone who can follow through on the reforms that have been started at DOTC. We can't just entrust the position to somebody we don't know),” Aquino said.

“Kailangang may talino at kakayahang magpatakbo ng isa sa pinakamalaki at pinakamayamang ahensya ng gobyerno. Mas mahalaga, kailangan ng isang taong kaya akong sabayan sa pagtahak sa tuwid na landas (We need a competent person to run one of the biggest government agencies. More importantly, we need someone who can keep up with my mission to put everyone on the right path),” he added.
The president also lauded Roxas, whom he described as the one who has the capacity to initiate his administration’s projects in DOTC, an agency riddled by corruption controversies like PIATCO, and the multi-million NBN-ZTE deal.

Aquino said Roxas will also remain as his adviser.

“Marami pa rin po akong ibang iuutos sa kanya; aasikasuhin pa rin niya ang mga kailangang asikasuhin, sisilip sa mga butil para makita ang buong kaban ng problema at solusyon para po sa bayan. Tuloy po ang serbisyo sa atin ni Mar (I still have other tasks for him. He will still see to the other matters that need solutions. Mar will continue to serve the country),” he added.

Weeks ago, Roxas was reportedly being tapped as the presidential chief of staff, a position Malacañang plans to introduce despite pundits pointing out that it was no different with the Executive Secretary post.