Noynoy advised to avoid recycling public officials

A senior colleague in the Senate on Thursday urged president-apparent Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III not to recycle former government officials for his would-be Cabinet. Senator Edgardo Angara advised Aquino to pick the members of his government well, particularly those he would appoint to revenue collecting agencies. "Noynoy should not recycle former officials. If your vow is to collect more, how are you going to do that if you are going to appoint people who have been there but failed to do it. Would they be more successful the second time around?" Angara said during the weekly Kapihan sa Senado. Angara, however, refused to name those people Aquino should not appoint. "Basta nanggaling na sila dun. He should pick well. Not just those off the street. Ayokong magpangalan ng specific," he said. Among the advisers of Aquino and the ones he is tapping to be part of his Cabinet were former officials either during the time of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino, or the outgoing administration. Also, Angara said the new administration should not be so stubborn against the implementation of new taxes. "I don't think that should be written on the stone because taxation is the more sustainable source of revenue," Angara said. However, he said an alternative to new taxes is stepping up collection "but that presupposes that you are going to put good and true men who will not allow the shenanigans." The new administration should get some of those hidden lump-sum funds out of the government corporations, he said, adding it could easily assemble P50 million by doing that. "Yun lang sa Malampaya, road users tax, that alone more than P10 million na. E yun pang mga PNOC-funding," he said. According to him, many government owned and controlled corporations have big funds that are not entered into the budget count or the appropriation fund. — LBG, GMANews.TV