AS CABINET SHAKE-UP LOOMS: Marcos urged to appoint persons who are ready to serve for 5 years

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to shake-up his Cabinet has been welcomed by House of Representatives Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan, who said the chief executive should preferably pick new department secretaries who are ready to serve for the next five years.

“Our suggestion is for the President to appoint highly capable department heads who can focus entirely on their jobs until 2028, and who do not have any plans to run in the 2025 elections, which is just 24 months away,” Libanan said.

“Secretaries keen on running for office in the mid-term polls are bound to become preoccupied with partisan political activities in a matter of months,” Libanan pointed out.

Mr. Marcos on Tuesday said he intends to reorganize his Cabinet soon, as he wants to appoint new members, including individuals who lost in the last elections, following the lapse of the 12-month prohibition on their appointment.

Libanan said there is nothing wrong with the President’s plan to tap individuals who ran and lost in the May 2022 elections.

“As long as they are highly qualified and competent individuals, it does not matter if they lost in the previous elections, considering that the ban has already expired,” Libanan said.

Libanan urged the President to designate permanent heads for the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), and the Department of National Defense (DND).

The President concurrently heads the DA, while Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire and Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. serve as officers-in-charge of the DOH and the DND, respectively.