MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo's personal manicurist will soon have the power to approve government housing projects after she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the P202 billion Pag-IBIG Fund, the fund's president said Thursday.

Jaime Fabiaña, president and CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund, said Mrs. Arroyo's personal manicurist, Anita Carpon, will have a hand in formulating government policy on housing loans and housing projects as a member of the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.

"The Board of Trustees reviews the policy recommendations coming from the management of Pag-IBIG. If we have housing loans or membership guidelines, the Pag-IBIG management will make a policy recommendation and we will submit it to the Board of Trustees for their appreciation and approval. There are also projects that are not under the authority of the officers and employees of Pag-IBIG, which are supported to the Board of Trustees," he told radio dzMM.

He added: "Basically, it's more of policy formulation and review of projects that need approval. Mabigat yan in terms of responsibility."

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar earlier confirmed that President Arroyo appointed her personal manicurist to the housing fund to represent government employees. He also confirmed that the President's gardener, Armando Macapagal, was appointed deputy of the Luneta Park Administration.

According to the Pag-IBIG website, the Board of Trustees is composed of the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the secretaries for the trade, finance, budget and labor departments, the CEO of the Pag-IBIG Fund, 2 representatives of private employees and a representative for government employees.

Asked if government employees have a say on who should represent them in the Pag-IBIG board, Fabiaña said: "I need to check the charter of Pag-IBIG and the implementing rules, but I don't think that government employees have a say on who should represent them."

He added, however, that previous trustees appointed to represent government employees in the Pag-IBIG fund were active members of the Philippine Government Employees Association and teachers' unions.

Fabiaña said Carpon's appointment papers were coursed through HUDCC, but that the new trustee had yet to attend the meetings. He also said Carpon was appointed before a 60-day ban on midnight appointments took effect last March 10.

The Pag-IBIG president also denied media reports that trustees get as much as P130,000 a month in per diem, plus perks, for a fixed two-year term. He said that instead of a salary, trustees receive P1,000 per diem for the monthly Pag-IBIG board meeting, P10,000 per diem for the twice monthly committee meetings and about P3,000 monthly representation allowance.

"There is also P6,000 transportation allowance but since they have a service vehicle assigned to them, the transportation allowance is forfeited. It's not P130,000. It's only about P20,000," he said.

Columnist Jarius Bondoc, who first exposed the appointments of Carpon and Macapagal, belied Fabiaña's statement.

"That P1,000 is a big lie. They make P130,000 a month. In their first meeting last Wednesday, the new trustees asked that it could be doubled to P300,000," Bondoc said in a text message to radio dzMM.

'Brazen abuse'

The manicurist's appointment has earned criticism from various camps, with one critic calling it "a midnight  appointment of the incompetents."

Vice-presidential candidate Jejomar Binay criticized as a "brazen abuse of   presidential power" President Arroyo’s decision to appoint her own stylist to handle a government housing fund.
 
“I do not know what hiring criteria she used that she came to the conclusion that a P202 -billion-fund will be in good hands if the person who’s making her hands beautiful will be installed there, “ Binay said in a statement.

He added: “Pag-IBIG has 7 million members. Can’t she find one with better credentials than the one who has been applying paint to her nails? This is not about belittling the capability of her manicurist. But corporate hiring standards should apply. There is clearly an abuse of discretion and a disregard for professionalism in government."

Butch Abad, campaign manager of Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, also accused Mrs. Arroyo of acting without regard for the public good.

"She further deepened the culture of political patronage in this country by putting people who are loyal to her in positions which are delicate without any regard to the qualifications of these people," Abad said.

He said this followed a recent rash of controversial Arroyo appointments in the judiciary and the top military ranks less than three months before the end of her term.

"These appointments are meant to put people in positions of influence in the hopes that if she is out of power, she will still be able to exercise some degree of influence," Abad said. With a report from Agence France-Presse