Almendras moving to DOTC

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is set to transfer Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to replace Jose de Jesus who resigned last Monday, Malacañang sources said yesterday.

Apparently, former Sen. Manuel Roxas II has declined the position and has opted for an advisory job in the Palace as announced by presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. Roxas was reportedly the original Palace choice as De Jesus’ replacement.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the official title and functions of Roxas were being finalized.

The sources said a reshuffle was shaping up as another incumbent official would take the place of Almendras at the Department of Energy (DOE).

The name of investment banker Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., president and chief executive officer of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., cropped up as Almendras’ replacement but sources said he would definitely not be the next DOE chief.

At the DOTC, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President would reinstate Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres after the latter went on a 60-day leave to give way to an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing leveled against her by Stradcom Corp.

“What we know is that she will be coming back to office,” Valte said over radio dzRB.

Torres’ reinstatement was said to have prompted De Jesus to resign but the Palace and the outgoing secretary himself stressed this was not true.

Lacierda earlier said the President had asked De Jesus to finish the assessment on Stradcom, which filed a case against Torres for non-payment of its services. Stradcom provides information technology services and maintains the LTO’s database for motor vehicle registration and driver’s license holders.

Valte also denied insinuations made by some quarters that De Jesus was disgruntled by the Palace’s lack of support for his department.

On the decision of some DOTC undersecretaries to resign, Valte said it was expected because they wanted to give the next secretary a free hand in choosing his men.

She said De Jesus himself had explained his eagerness to go back to the private sector.

“Secretary De Jesus has spoken and so I think we should really leave it at that because it’s no longer productive to speculate or to put out stories as to why he resigned. Secretary De Jesus said it’s his wish to return to the private sector and he had set the steps in place for reforms in DOTC,” Valte said.

No Palace action yet

Meanwhile, there is no clear Palace action yet on Torres regarding her case with Stradcom, other than her being allowed to reassume her post on June 19 after a 60-day leave of absence.

Dante Velasco, DOTC undersecretary for road transport, public information and management information systems, said Malacañang has not sent lawyers to sit in a DOTC or Palace investigation into the administrative charges recommended by Department of Justice (DOJ) against Torres.

“That assistance has not come in yet,” Velasco told reporters in a press briefing last Friday.

The DOJ had recommended administrative charges against Torres for her role in the takeover of the central operations center of Stradcom within the LTO head office compound in Quezon City last December. Torres was with businessmen Aderito Yujuico and Bonifacio Sumbilla during the takeover.

A DOJ probe revealed that Torres conspired with the Sumbilla and Yujuico group in the takeover.

Sources said Torres and the outgoing DOTC chief reportedly do not see eye to eye because of the latter’s deferment of a public bidding for the P500-million driver’s license contract late last year.

De Jesus ordered the bidding deferred after prospective bidders complained that the terms of reference seemed to favor a particular bidder.

“It is inevitable because she (Torres) will come back on June 19,” a source said. - With Rainier Allan Ronda