Unsolicited advice to PNoy: Meet with Cabinet more often

Hold Cabinet meetings and coordinate with secretaries more frequently. This was the "unsolicited advice" a senator gave President Benigno Aquino III Sunday, in the wake of the resignation of Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus. "Ang unsolicited advice, dapat marami ang Cabinet meetings and coordinating meetings with the president," Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said in an interview on dzBB radio Sunday. Zubiri particularly suggested that "at least every other week may Cabinet meeting, para malaman ng pangulo ang problema ng iba't ibang ahensya at maaksyunan niya," he said. De Jesus resigned last week as head of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), effective June 30. Last Friday, three of his undersecretaries also announced they were quitting their posts, so the new DOTC chief will have a free hand reorganizing the agency. While Malacañang appealed to the public not to speculate on De Jesus' reason for quitting, Zubiri cited information from the "business community" hinting that De Jesus quit out of "sheer frustration." "From what I gathered from the business community, De Jesus was frustrated because projects in his department were moving slowly, and that he was frustrated because the president was protecting some friends," he said. Zubiri said De Jesus is a "big loss" to the Aquino administration. "That's unfortunate. Si Secretary De Jesus ay napakabait, napakagaling at tuwid na tao...," he said. Mar for DOTC post? Meanwhile, a party-mate of former senator Manuel Roxas II maintained the defeated vice presidential bet is not in the equation for the DOTC post. Sen. Franklin Drilon said Roxas had decided to be the presidential chief of staff even before De Jesus resigned from his post. "Bago mag-resign si Sec. De Jesus, buo na ang decision na maging chief of staff siya at pinag-uusapan na lang ano ang delineation ng function ng executive secretary para maliwanag," Drilon said in a separate interview on dzBB. — LBG, GMA News