Estrada set to name `super body' members

President Estrada is expected to appoint tomorrow five of his closest advisers to a powerful executive committee that will decide over the country's overall economic plan.

The Economic Coordinating Council (ECC), a "super body" to be headed by the President himself, would effectively override line agencies on matters concerning economic policies.

A highly placed source told reporters yesterday Mr. Estrada will issue the order and make the announcement tomorrow during the Ulat ng Bayan, an informal situationer to be delivered during his radio/television program Jeep ni Erap.

The ECC will be a level higher than the Cabinet, similar to the National Security Council and the Investments Coordinating Council.

The source said those to be appointed to the committee will include Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Felipe Medalla and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Rafael Buenaventura.

Trade Secretary Jose Pardo, who just recently accepted his appointment as finance chief, will also sit in the committee, together with Capiz Rep. Manuel Roxas III, who takes his place as secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

With their appointment to the ECC, Medalla, Angara and Buenaventura would be untouched by the impending Cabinet revamp, the source said.

Of the three Cabinet men, only Medalla has no close link to the President. The source said it appears he is the only one to be retained and appointed "purely on merit."

Pardo, tagged as the President's closest and most powerful advisers, has worked with Mr. Estrada as a member of his Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, representing the business sector.

Pardo himself explained that the ECC would be formed to homogenize the Cabinet, which has been having a hard time deciding on economic policies.

"What the President wants are for decisions to be made as fast and as smoothly as possible. He wants to put a stop to endless debates in the Cabinet," he said.

Angara was Mr. Estrada's running mate in the 1998 elections, and had been promised the post of agriculture secretary in case he did not win as vice president.

Buenaventura, a professional and veteran banker, was president of the Philippine National Bank, and was Mr. Estrada's classmate at the Ateneo de Manila.

Roxas, who will have to leave his post as majority floorleader at the House of Representatives, is the grandson and namesake of the first Philippine Republic president. He had initially pursued a career in business and investment banking before entering politics.

Meanwhile, outgoing Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu has expressed opposition to the creation of the super body that will formulate the country's overall economic plan.

Espiritu said the creation of the ECC will be unfair to Cabinet members in charge of economic matters.

The creation of the super body seems to be one of the points Espiritu, and Buenaventura and Pardo disagreed on.