Appointing losing bets to Cabinet is President Marcos prerogative – Bersamin

MANILA, Philippines — Appointing losing candidates in the May 2022 elections to the Cabinet is a prerogative of President Marcos, who is “smart” in his choice of officials, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said yesterday.

Bersamin made the statement in response to calls for Marcos to refrain from appointing losing candidates to the Cabinet and other government posts as the one-year ban on hiring them lapsed on May 9.

“You know the President is smart in his choices. He chooses the good ones to serve,” Bersamin told reporters after presiding over a meeting of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission at Camp Aguinaldo.

He said it is Marcos’ discretion to select the people he believes would help him deliver on his agenda for the people.

“You know there are good people out there,” the former chief justice said.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez earlier urged Marcos not to appoint or recycle candidates who lost in the May 2022 polls.

Minority Leader 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan, on the other hand, asked Marcos to appoint Cabinet members who are ready to serve for five years and have no plans of running for office in the 2025 midterm elections.

In an interview in Indonesia on Wednesday, Marcos hinted at a possible reorganization of his Cabinet after the one-year appointment ban on those who ran in the May 2022 elections ended on May 9.

“So yes, there’s really going to be… I don’t know about the reshuffle but a reorganization of the Cabinet,” Marcos said.

The President said he already knows who have performed well during his first year in office.

“In a sense, everyone’s OJT is over and we have seen who performs well and who is – will be important to what we are doing,” he said.

Marcos has yet to appoint full-time heads for the Departments of Agriculture, Health (DOH) and Defense. Marcos concurrently serves as DA secretary.

The President has been barraged by calls from several quarters to appoint permanent heads for the DA and DOH.