Escudero warns of delays as Marcos holds off on appointing DA, DOH secretaries
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis Escudero warned Tuesday that delays may occur in making decisions within the agriculture and health departments as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. continued to hold off on appointing full-time secretaries to head these agencies.
Marcos currently heads the Department of Agriculture, while Ma. Rosario Vergeire heads the Department of Health as its officer-in-charge.
Escudero said on ABS-CBN News Channel’s “Headstart” that delays can be expected in both departments as it might be difficult to clear major decisions in the DA with Marcos, while Vergeire’s powers are limited as OIC.
“It’s not easy to have an appointment with the president,” Escudero said partly in Filipino. “He’s not like a secretary who holds office at the top floor that you can climb up to and knock on if you need anything to clear, clarify and ask permission for.”
He added that given the limited powers of Vergeire as the OIC of the DOH, “this would be causing delays insofar as actions needed to be taken with the Department of Health.”
“It would have been better for a full-fledged secretary to act entirely on his own with minimal actions required of the president or the executive secretary himself,” he said.
Nearly a year since taking office, Marcos has yet to appoint full-time secretaries to head the DA and DOH despite appeals from some lawmakers for him to do so.
Marcos took the agriculture portfolio at the start of his presidency as he said there was a need to arrest rapidly rising food prices, which continued to skyrocket despite his leadership of the DA.
The president said in October 2022 that he is waiting for the country’s situation to “normalize” from the COVID-19 pandemic before appointing full-time DA and DOH secretaries.
Marcos told reporters en route to the US that he is looking into the possibility of adding to his Cabinet losing candidates in the last elections. The 1987 Constitution bars losing poll bets from being appointed a year after the elections in which they lost.
The STAR newspaper reported that Malasakit@Bayanihan party-list Rep. Antonio Rolando Golez Jr. is being eyed by President Marcos to lead the Department of Health, along with vice-presidential race loser Willie Ong and senatorial race loser Minguita Padilla. — Xave Gregorio
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