IF A Cabinet official cannot deliver on his mandated tasks, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile said that official should be fired, especially when he cannot find the delicadeza [propriety] to resign.
Enrile made the remark after Senator Grace Poe dressed down Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya for his supposedly many failings, from the operation and maintenance of Metro Manila’s train system to the quality of Internet connectivity in the country.
“If he’s incompetent fire him. Don’t even ask him to resign, fire him if he’s incompetent,” said the 91-year-old Enrile, adding that an incompetent official should not serve in government even for a single day.
“If you think that your Cabinet member is stupid or incompetent or inutile, fire him for the sake of the country,” Enrile said.
“He’s not being paid by anybody, he’s being paid by the people. If he can’t deliver he should be fired. Any member of the Cabinet for that matter, that’s the norm,” he said, adding that President Benigno Aquino III’s refusal to fire Abaya, who also refuses to resign, proves “they have no shame.”
Enrile, who served at various times as secretary of finance, justice and national defense under former President Ferdinand Marcos, recalled that when a situation like that of Abaya’s occurred during the Marcos administration, the official involved invariably resigned.
But the Palace said on Tuesday that Abaya still enjoys the trust and confidence of President Benigno Aquino III.
“Secretary Abaya, like all Cabinet members, serves at the pleasure, and on account of the President’s continuing trust and confidence,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. in a text message to the Malacañang Press Corps.
Coloma said the Aquino administration is working to solve all the problems hounding the government before Aquino steps down on June 2016.
“That’s why we are trying to [solve these] and hopefully not leave any problems for the next administration, if these can be resolved during the current administration,” Coloma said.
“If these solutions cannot be fully solved, the current administration is laying down the foundation so that the next administration will be able to continue this,” said Coloma.
Coloma said as of the moment, the government is waiting for the next delivery of new trains and coaches for the Metro Rail Transit to increase the capacity of the railways.
Coloma said they are aware that there is a lack of trains for the commuters of the MRT, but once the delivery of trains is completed, the problem will be solved.
“As a whole, the government is trying to work on solving all the problems in order to avoid making these problems bigger. And those that can be solved at the moment are now being solved,” Coloma added.
Coloma made the remarks after Poe criticized transportation officials, including Abaya, for their alleged lack of compassion for commuters.
“I think they lack the ingredient of compassion,” Poe said. “Because when you talk to them, they are like robots. They say ‘this is what we’ll do’ but when you ask them again, they don’t even know the developments.”
Poe said Aquino should have been less forgiving towards Abaya, acting president of the ruling Liberal Party, following the series of mishaps in the MRT-3 even after the government spent billions for the train system’s maintenance and rehabilitation.