Aquino: No Cabinet revamp for now

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said Friday that he currently sees no need to revamp his Cabinet as he is "very happy" with the performances of almost all members of his official family. "Most of them, if not all of them, are performing as or better than expected. Others I've had to call their attention to improvements pero for the most part I'm very happy they've been assisting me and addressing all of the problems of this country, " Aquino said in an ambush interview in Malacañang. Aquino noted that there was a large improvement in public satisfaction with the Cabinet under his four-month-old administration. A Social Weather Stations survey conducted from September 24 to 27 showed that net satisfaction with top institutions from the government’s three branches increased “significantly" during the first few months of Aquino’s presidency. The biggest improvement was registered by the Cabinet, whose rating improved from a “poor" –7 mark last March to a “moderate" +22 rating. "Why should we have a Cabinet revamp at this point in time when the people are happy with their performance?" Aquino said. He said he was particularly pleased with the performances of Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras. Robredo, Paje The president clarified that there is currently no plan to remove acting Department of Interior Local Government (DILG) Jesse Robredo from his post. Robredo is one of two Cabinet secretaries who are staying only in an acting capacity. The other is Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje, whom Aquino said he would most likely replace next year with a colleague from the Liberal Party. While Aquino did not name the party-mate, rumors are rife that he would appoint former Bukidnon congressman Neric Acosta, who authored many environmental laws during his stint in the House of Representatives including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Aquino cannot appoint Acosta until next year because of the one-year constitutional ban on appointing losing candidates. Acosta lost in his senatorial bid during the May 10 elections. Aquino said that at the moment, the executive branch is still evaluating whether there should be a change in structure that would address urgent problems like the proliferation of informal settlers. Aquino said there is a need to review whether existing government agencies are enough to address the issue or whether a new office needs to be created to oversee the resolution of the informal settlers issue. "Kung may panibagong mekanismo pwede si Jesse Robredo dun. Pero sa kasalukuyan, uulit-ulitin ko, walang plano na ilipat siya dahil pinag-aaralan pa nga kung kaya nang tugunan ng ahensyang mga kasalukuyang nakatalaga yung mga problemang may expertise siyang sagaran," he said. (If there is a new mechanism, we can place Jesse Robredo there. But at the moment, I repeat, there is no plan to transfer him because we're still studying if existing agencies can address the problem that he is an expert in)," Aquino said. Robredo is an award-winning former mayor of Naga City. In 2000, he bagged the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service. At the height of the August 23 hostage crisis, it was revealed that Aquino ordered Robredo to focus on the local government side of the DILG while he assigned his longtime friend, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno, to oversee the security side. The division of tasks created confusion at the time over who was responsible for handling the police that was believed to have bungled the rescue operations. Both Robredo and Puno were eventually not charged for their involvement in the hostage crisis. — RSJ, GMANews.TV