Category: Benigno Aquino III

Confusion marked the implementation of the first official issuance of President Benigno Aquino III, he had to hold it for review on the first day of its implementation.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Malacañang is reviewing Memorandum Circular No. 1 that declared all non-career executive service positions vacant as of June 30, 2010 June 2010, and extended the services of contractual employees whose contracts expire on 30 June 2010.

Lacierda said, there was no mistake. They just “finetuned” the language. He said it should answer the question, “Bababa na ba ako?”. He also said there are non-career officials who are not political appointees.

At the department of Foreign Affairs,where all the undersecretaries were political appointees, Undersecretaries did not report to work because they would have no official personality and they would not be authorized to sign anything.

Please click here (VERA Files) for the inaugural video of Benigno Aquino III as the country’s 15th president byVERA Files’ Tessa Jamandre. The video comes…

Photos by Malacañang photographers

Without mentioning the name of his predecessor Gloria Arroyo, Aquino ordered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to run after those who have committed crime against the Filipino people.

At the same time, he said he is grateful to former Chief Justice Hilario Davide who was Arroyo’s ambassador to the United Nations, to agree to head the Truth Commission that will investigate anomalies under the Arroyo administration.

Following is his inaugural speech:

His Excellency Jose Ramos Horta, Former President Fidel V. Ramos, Former President Joseph Estrada, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and members of the Senate, House Speaker Prospero Nograles and members of the House, justices of the Supreme Court, members of the foreign delegations,Your Excellencies of the diplomatic corps, fellow colleagues in government, aking mga kababayan.
Ang pagtayo ko dito ngayon ay patunay na kayo ang aking tunay na lakas. Hindi ko inakala na darating tayo sa puntong ito, na ako’y manunumpa sa harap ninyo bilang inyong Pangulo. Hindi ko pinangarap maging tagapagtaguyod ng pag-asa at tagapagmana ng mga suliranin ng ating bayan.

* Paquito Ochoa Jr., executive secretary, who is Aquino’s long time confidante and former administrator of Quezon City.
* Alberto Romulo, Foreign Affairs
* Cesar Purisima, Finance
* Leila de Lima, Justice, chair of the Commission on Human Rights under the Arroyo administration
* Voltaire Gazmin, Defense, who was chief of the Presidential Security Group under the Corazon Aquino administration
* Armin Luistro, Education, president and chancellor of De La Salle University who is very close to the Aquino family
* Florencio “Butch” Abad, Budget, who was former Batanes congressman and Education secretary of the Arroyo government. Abad also served as campaign manager for Aquino in the May elections.
* Cayetano Paderanga Jr., director general of the National Economic Development Authority, who had served as Monetary Board member and socioeconomic planning chief under the Corazon Aquino administration.
* Proceso Alcala, Agriculture. Alcala was a former congressman of Quezon province.
* Ramon Paje, Environment. Paje served as DENR secretary.
* Jose “Ping” de Jesus, Transportation and Communication, who is president and chief operating officer of Meralco.
* Rosalinda Baldoz, Labor, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration under the Arroyo government
* Enrique Ona, Health, director of the National Kidney Institute.
* Alberto Lim, Tourism, executive director of the Makati Buisness Club.
* Gregory Domingo, Trade. He served as DTI undersecretary and managing head of the Board of Investments between 2002 and 2004. He was also executive director of SM Investments Corp. and vice chairman of Belle Corp. before his DTI appointment.
* Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, Social Welfare secretary, the post she once held under the Arroyo administration.
* Mario Montejo, Department of Science and Technology, who was with Water Fun, an amusement park. Aquino said the Filipino technology used in the park like slides and waves was an invention of Montejo and his team.
* Jose Rene Almendras, Energy, who is working for Manila Water.
* Rogelio Singson, Public Works, former chair of the Bases Conversion Authority.
* Virgilio de los Reyes, Agrarian Reform, vice dean of the College of Law and a teacher of Business Law in the MBA program of DLSU.
* Teresita “Ging” Deles, presidential peace adviser
* Julia Abad, chief of the Presidential Management staff, who served as Aquino’s Senate chief of staff and is a daughter of Butch Abad.
* Edwin Lacierda, presidential spokesman.
* Eduardo de Mesa, presidential legal counsel, who has been one of Aquino’s lawyers since 1998.
* Patricia Licuanan, Commission on Higher Education, who is president of Miriam College. Licuanan is also very active in women issues serving as the Philippines’ representative, then vice chairwoman and eventually chair of the Conference on the Status of Women during the 1995 World Conference on Women held in Beijing. She also served as the trustee of the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics.
* Kim Jacinto-Henares as head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Henares was a former BIR executive.

Transcipt of the press conference: