Ronnie Puno went to the US of A to attend to the wedding of his daughter, set in California’s beautiful Napa Valley. He has been in and out of the US of A, as this is where his family resides. Everyone and his mother in the DILG knows this, and they find it normal when their boss is out of the country. And he designates one or the other of his numerous undersecretaries, usually senior Usec Ed Soliman, as his officer-in-charge.
All of a sudden, three days after Ronnie had already landed in San Francisco International, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita issued an appointment for a DILG officer-in-charge. And it was not one of the usual undersecretaries, which is the usual practice anywhere in the bureaucracy. Ermita designate current DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane.
That’s not just it. Ermita even announced that Puno went to the US of A on medical leave. Either Ronnie is sick or he is undergoing a medical check-up, Malacañang explained. Still, curiously, why Ebdane?