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Pimentel twits Arroyo on Puno leave

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/06/2009 12:12 AM

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Does Arroyo still have confidence in Puno? This was the question raised by the Senate minority leader on Sunday after what he said was a “brouhaha over the designation of an officer-in-charge” in the Department of Interior and Loal Government (DILG).

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr., in a statement on Sunday, said that Malacañang should explain the designation of Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane as OIC after Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno went on two-week leave of absence.

Pimentel, a former DILG chief, said Malacañang should explain why not any a career or non-career undersecretary in the department, which he sais was prescribed by existing rules and procedures under the Revised Administrative Code, was appointed instead.

"This brings up the question of whether the President still trusts Secretary Puno. Why did the President disregard the basic rule that the most senior undersecretary should take over the supervision of he department when the secretary is on leave?" Pimentel said in the statement.

Pimentel cited that reports said Puno recommended DILG Undersecretary Mario Corpus as OIC while he is on leave.

Pimentel also cited conflicting explanations on the reason on Puno’s leave.

The statement cited that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Puno would undergo medical treatment in the United States for an ailment. The statement said however that this was corrected by DILG Assistant Secretary Brian Yamsuan. The DILG official reportedly said that Puno flew to the US to attend the wedding of his daughter, Tami on July 4 in San Francisco.

Yamsuan was even reported to have said that Ermita himself signed Puno's leave form and that there was no mention of a medical treatmentin the form.

Pimentel also slammed the Palace on what the statement said was its lack of transparency and the state of paranoia where “loyalty of even close subordinates of the President is constantly under check.”

Puno, who is one of the key political advisers of President Arroyo, had earlier said that he would seek to run for the vice presidency in the 2010 elections under the Arroyo administration’s unified party Lakas-KAMPI-CMD.