President Arroyo “has invited former Vice President Teofisto Guingona to spearhead development programs attuned to the 10-point agenda, ” according to Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.
But the Manila Bulletin, quoting “Malacanang insiders” reported that the invitation “may run in conflict with her earlier designation of Vice President Noli de Castro as alternate chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Presidential Adviser on OFWs, and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman.”
This doesn’t surprise us anymore. Arroyo just shugged her shoulders when Guingona left the administration. If she really wanted the help of the former Vice President, she should have listened to his concerns and prevented him from leaving the adminstration. She should have asked her to be her running mate. Instead, she tried her best and succeeded in getting Noli De Castro–a popular but inexperienced media straddler who could boost her chances of getting elected–as her running mate.
A certified user-friendly trapo, she is now paying her political debt to De Castro and wants to use Guingona to create a semblance of “unity” between her administration and the opposition.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel, who is with the opposition and a Mindanaoan like Guingona, believes that Arroyo’s gesture was done “only a sop to Mindanao’s ruffled feelings because we have no member in the Cabinet.”
One reply on “The Invitation”
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