PNoy to meet with Acosta again before deciding on DENR post

BOCAUE, Bulacan - President Benigno Aquino III has yet to decide on the fate of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, but promised he will do so within the week. In an interview with reporters, Aquino said he still needs to conduct another meeting with defeated senatorial candidate Nereus "Neric" Acosta, who has claimed that he is being eyed to replace Paje. "I will have one more meeting with Neric Acosta this week and I think I’ll be done for the final decision, hopefully by this week," he said after the launching of the housing project for military and police personnel here. During the launching of the National Greening Program in Quezon City on May 13, the President said he still needs to talk with certain personalities before making a decision. He did not mention then the name of Acosta, also a Liberal Party member. Aquino is LP chair and the party president is former Senator Mar Roxas II, Aquino's defeated running mate in the May 2010 polls. Roxas is the President's incoming chief of staff. 'Well-financed smear campaign' Acosta earlier said that President Aquino is considering him for the DENR portfolio. In a press statement he issued on May 11, Acosta said a well-financed smear campaign was launched to discredit him. Acosta said he promised Aquino that he will clean up the "well-placed mafia groups that are embedded in the DENR, from the issuances of fake land patents resulting in big land scams to the questionable grants of mining and logging permits." "They must be afraid of the cleanup I intend to do. I will be stepping on big toes – but someone has got to do it. I will do it if given the chance," he added. For his part, Paje has said he will leave the decision to the President. "Basta ang sinabi niya lang sa akin e magtrabaho lang, just do your job, do it well. So I’m leaving it to the President to decide," he said. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ/HS, GMA News