Arroyo's manicurist named Pag-IBIG board member, Palace confirms

Malacañang on Wednesday confirmed reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's manicurist has been appointed as board member of the Pag-IBIG Housing Fund. Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said Anita "Nitz" Carpon has been appointed to the housing agency to represent government employees, even as he defended her from criticisms against her "lowly" status. "Ang kanya pong kakatawanin is precisely yung maliliit na empleyado na siyang nangangailangan ng serbisyo ng Pag-IBIG (What she will represent are precisely those small employees who need the services of Pag-IBIG). Let us not hold her lowly status against her," Olivar said in the report aired over GMA News’ early evening news program “24 Oras." Carpon's appointment first appeared on broadsheet Philippine Star when Jarius Bondoc reported in his April 19 column that the manicurist had secured a post at Pag-IBIG and would likely receive a monthly salary of P130,000. Bondoc also said "no one at the Pag-IBIG Fund cares to answer quiet inquiries" about the issue. On April 21, Bondoc wrote another column, saying that aside from Carpon, Mrs. Arroyo also appointed her gardener, Armando Macapagal, as deputy of the Luneta Park Administration. "Professionals among Malacañang’s housekeeping staff are outraged. Not only did Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appoint her personal manicurist to the board of trustees of Pag-IBIG Housing Fund. She also earlier named her gardener as deputy of the Luneta Park Administration. Both postings are improper sinecures, Palace aides murmur," Bondoc's column read. "A third insider doubts the two appointees’ credentials. Macapagal supposedly landscapes Malacañang lawns but does not manage people. Carpon is not known for financial expertise to oversee the multibillion-peso housing mutual fund of all employees. Nicknamed Nitz, she is often scolded by Arroyo for mismatching presidential handbags and shoes," it added. In 2002, President Arroyo also appointed her dentist Leonor Tripon-Rosero as board examiner for dentistry. In 2003, Rosero was promoted as commissioner of the Philippine Regulation Commission. Two years after, in January 2005, she was named as PRC chair.—JV, GMANews.TV