Montemayor pushed as DA head

Employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) asked President Arroyo yesterday to appoint former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor as head of their department.

Montemayor’s ties with farmers’ groups make him qualified for the job, the employees union said in a two-page letter to the President.

"The DAR employees association is not unaware of his work with the farmers as leader of the Federation of Free Farmers even before he was appointed to the Department of Agriculture which proves him worthy of the position," Violeta Bonilla, union president, said.

Montemayor was sacked on Nov. 30 along with Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez as part of an ongoing Cabinet reshuffle.

Outgoing Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza was appointed press secretary last Tuesday, replacing Ignacio Bunye, who was appointed as presidential spokesman a day earlier.

Former presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao was asked by Mrs. Arroyo to serve full time as her chief of staff in the Office of the President.

Braganza said one of his deputies, Undersecretary Efren Moncupa, will temporarily take charge of the department if Mrs. Arroyo does not name his replacement by Jan. 15.

He recommended Moncupa as his replacement since he is the most senior official in the department.

The employees union, however, oppose a Moncupa appointment. Bonilla said they wrote to the President after learning that Braganza’s former deputies were reportedly lobbying for Moncupa.

"We respectfully suggest that Your Excellency treat this lobby with your usual extreme caution, considering that these same people have been instrumental in fomenting chaos and demoralization in the DAR for the past months," they said in their letter.

Moncupa displayed arrogance and lack of respect for the department bureaucracy, particularly against the rank and file, they said.

"Worst, he has always been a slowpoke in the performance of his official functions and does not have the slightest political will that a high official should have in implementing a substantially sensitive revolutionary program such as agrarian reform," the union said.

Malacañang sources earlier told The STAR that former agrarian reform secretary Horacio Morales and Edicio de la Torre, who headed the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority during the administration of deposed President Joseph Estrada, were being considered for the post, among other people.

Commenting on his appointment, Braganza earlier said he would do his best in his new job even as he has no media background.

"I admit that I don’t have knowledge in my new job. But I’m very much willing to learn," he said in a radio interview.

The DAR employees union said Braganza’s appointment as press secretary was "a long overdue victory for all DAR employees."

"The recent changes you have introduced in your Cabinet are reflective of your being a listening President, decisive and resolute in effecting change whenever and wherever necessary," they said in their letter.

The union had accused Braganza of overspending department funds. Braganza denied the allegation.

"Despite major budgetary constraints that we have in this department and considering that DAR’s budget was slashed by P1 billion last year, we were still able to meet our target distribution of lands to farmers. The employees received huge amount of bonuses last December and we still have savings. So what overspending are they talking about?" he asked.

Braganza said he gained the ire of the members and officials of DAREA because they were affected by the major reforms he implemented in DAR when he assumed office.

"In the past," he cited, "the employees used the bundy clock. I changed it to finger scanning so we were able to identify those who are not reporting for work exactly on the required working time. Some of them even lost their money-making activities."

Bunye said there will be more Cabinet changes in the next few days but declined to say who might be axed to avoid speculations.

But he did say that those who might be appointed could come from non-allies of the administration and even from the political opposition.