TWO former officials of the Department of Labor and Employment are being asked to join the Cabinet of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM), spokesman Vic Rodriguez said yesterday.
Rodriguez said Marcos has talked with former Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and former Labor Undersecretary and migrant workers advocate Susan Ople but did not say what positions are being offered to them. He said Laguesma and Ople were given time to decide.
“They’re both respected in the field of labor and employment and he (Marcos) asked them if they want to serve the government under the Marcos administration,” he said.
Rodriguez said Marcos and his team are also talking with former government officials and members of the private sector. He said some people need more time as they have to consider their families, their privacy, lucrative career, and things they would have to give up or sacrifice if they join government.
Laguesma served as labor secretary from 1998 to 2001 and was later appointed as a member of the Social Security Commission which is the governing board of the Social Security System.
Ople who served as DOLE undersecretary in 2004 and as chief of staff of her father, the late senator Blas Ople, when he was senator and later when he was foreign affairs secretary. She is an advocate of migrant workers’ rights and founded the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute.
Marcos has so far named presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio as secretary of the Department of Education and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman and his campaign’s chairman Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. as interior secretary.
Duterte-Carpio, in an interview, said she is set to talk with Education Secretary Leonor Briones about the state of the country’s education and the department’s plans, along with her own proposals.
She allayed concerns she would push for the mandatory military training for students as she said the department deals only with “basic education and ALS (Alternative Learning System).”
Asked if she has recommended anyone for any Cabinet position, Duterte-Carpio said she did not as there is a screening and vetting committee for it.
She added appointments are made based on the trust and confidence of the appointing authority, who is Marcos. She said if he were Marcos, she might feel bad or irked if someone tells her who to appoint.
‘ATTY VIC’
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said an inmate who is serving time at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City was “arrested” by NBI operatives for extorting money using a fake Facebook account of Rodriguez.
Guevarra said Ryan Ace Castillejo, also known as Jose Villafuerte, was traced by the NBI Special Action Unit to the national penitentiary’s maximum security compound where he is serving sentence for two counts of qualified theft.
Guevarra said the NBI operatives found a mobile phone and notebooks containing names of “possibly past or prospective victims” of Castillejo.
“He was not arrested because he was already in prison but he will be charged for cyber fraud,” he said.
An NBI report said Castillejo posed as “Atty. Vic Rodriguez” on Facebook and “has been defrauding BBM supporters to send money allegedly used for relief operations.”
Rodriguez said there is a need to strengthen the jail system in the country, which he said the next administration would surely look into.
He also said the incident involving Castillejo is a “eye opener” as the person as the person involved is already in detention.
Guevarra said he has ordered an investigation as to how Castillejo was able to get hold of a mobile phone while in detention.
“Possession by a PDL (person deprived of liberty) of a mobile phone is strictly prohibited in the NBP, most especially in the maximum security compound,” he said.
The Bureau of Corrections earlier installed a signal jammer at the maximum security compound to prevent the use of mobile phones.
The NBI conducted the operation following the arrest of one Casielyn Cardenas on April 18 for also using a fake Facebook account using Rodriguez’ name.
The mobile phone used during the commission of the crime was later traced to Castillejo, prompting the operation. — With Ashzel Hachero
