GMA wants Tito to rejoin Cabinet

After his unceremonious departure as foreign affairs secretary, Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. is being wooed by President Arroyo to join the Cabinet anew, this time as "Mindanao czar" in charge of government development programs in the South.

The President said she hoped that Guingona would accept the post because he remains a valuable asset to her administration.

Mrs. Arroyo and Guingona have publicly and private feuded over policy issues, notably on the presence of US troops in the country and the legality of the proposed RP-US Mutual Logistics Support Agreement as a mere executive accord.

Guingona resigned July 3 as a concurrent foreign affairs secretary.

The STAR learned yesterday that presidential advisers led by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz were drafting a proposed executive order that would create the position of "Mindanao czar" for Guingona.

"It will have a line function office and with full Cabinet rank," a Malacañang official told The STAR yesterday.

The bid to return Guingona to the Cabinet is perceived as an effort to appease him and to prevent him from joining the opposition. Guingona had pledged to remain politically relevant and not to fade away. He had strongly hinted that he may run in the 2004 presidential elections.

Guingona is in "close contact" with Romulo and Cruz even after his resignation as foreign affairs secretary, Mrs. Arroyo said.

"He (Guingona) said before that he’d like to take a couple of months off so that he can sort out what he’d like to do. So we’re respecting that," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo explained that Guingona did not attend Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting because he was no longer a Cabinet member. She refused to confirm reports that Guingona had been offered the post of secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), replacing Secretary Heherson Alvarez.

The offer of the DENR post was reportedly relayed to Guingona by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., co-chairman of Mrs. Arroyo of the Lakas-NUCD party. Alvarez is the party secretary general while Guingona is president.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye had said earlier that Mrs. Arroyo is ready to let go of Alvarez should he fail to be confirmed again by the Commission on Appointments. — Marichu Villanueva