Meralco COO, Aussie envoy visit Noynoy

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) chief operating officer Jose "Ping" de Jesus on Thursday visited President-elect Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III at his Quezon City home, further fueling speculations that he would be appointed secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Emerging from the meeting before noon, De Jesus said he was not at liberty to disclose what he and Aquino discussed but said he was "open" to being appointed to a position in the next administration. "Everything is tentative," he said when asked whether he would accept the DPWH position if offered. De Jesus, who previously served as DPWH secretary under the administrations of Aquino's late mother, Corazon Aquino, and her successor Fidel V. Ramos, said he has no problem with receiving government salary, which is lower than in the private sector. "I have served government before and I am used to government salary," the Meralco official said. Four appointments So far, Aquino has confirmed only four appointments to his official family: Corazon "Dinky" Soliman as Social Welfare secretary, Teresita Deles as presidential adviser on the peace process, Edwin Lacierda as presidential spokesman, and Jojo Ochoa Jr. as executive secretary. In a separate interview inside Aquino's home in Times Street, Ochoa said he and the rest of the search committee have presented Aquino with at least three names for each Cabinet position for line agencies. "Right now we're busy attending to the nominees of the Cabinet, and the reason why I'm here is we're sort of going through the motions of evaluating the names as proposed by various people," Ochoa said. Aquino's running mate, defeated vice presidential candidate Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, also arrived at Aquino's home in the afternoon but he refused to be interviewed by reporters. Ochoa said Aquino is choosing between Luneta Park and Quezon City Memorial Circle as the venue of his inauguration on June 30. Australian diplomat visits A few hours after meeting with De Jesus, Aquino met with Australian Ambassador Rod Smith, who promised to continue extending its assistance to the Philippines in education and the peace process, among others. "We had a very wide-ranging discussion which highlighted the very positive and strong relationship between Australia and the Philippines. I congratulated the president-elect on his election and the Filipino people for such impressive transition," Smith said. Both Aquino and Smith said they did not discuss the RP-Australia Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which would allow armed forces of both countries to conduct joint military training exercises. Even before Aquino was proclaimed Wednesday afternoon, ambassadors from the United States, Japan, China, and the European Union visited him in his home. - KBK, GMANews.TV