Reyes - Energy ; Atienza - DENR

In a cosmetic Cabinet shuffle days to her state of the nation address, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday replaced Energy Secretary Raphael PM Lotilla with Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes. In turn, former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, a close political ally, would take over as Environment secretary. Lotilla told reporters he had resigned.

In a long-distance phone interview from the United States, Atienza told GMANews.TV that he would rather await the official announcement, but played coy when asked if he had been offered the post. "Why, has it been announced? It might be premature to talk about it," he said.

"It's not true that Secretary Lotilla was removed because he failed in the privatization," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said at a press briefing Wednesday.

A question about Reyes' qualification for the position of Energy secretary drew this reply from Ermita: "Let's not prejudge people."

Asked if Atienza and Reyes sought their Cabinet posts, Lotilla said, "The President has her reasons. I am not competent to discuss these matters."

Pressed if the new appointments indicated "political accommodation" of her allies by President Arroyo, Lotilla replied: "I cannot be the judge of that."

Meanwhile, Reyes told reporters in a chance interview at the Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City that: “The position of Energy secretary is a welcome challenge [for me] and I will do my best."

The Energy portfolio would be Reyes' fourth in the Cabinet since March 2001, apart from two fleeting postings as presidential adviser against kidnapping and smuggling.

Reyes retired as chief of staff of the Armed Forces after leading military officers in renouncing support for then President Joseph Estrada, at the height of popular protest actions in January 2001 that catapulted Arroyo to power.

Mrs Arroyo had acknowledged Reyes as "a hero of democracy."

Reyes took over as Defense secretary in March 2001, and left the post in August 2003.

He assumed brief terms as presidential adviser in charge of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force from October 2003 to March 2004, and then as presidential adviser on anti-smuggling until May 2005.

In May 2005, Mrs Arroyo appointed Reyes as Local Government secretary.

On February 15, 2006, Reyes took over as Environment secretary. Eighteen months later, he is now moving again to the post of Energy secretary.

Atienza is in the United States and would be back home next week. He said he was conferred an award in Washington DC by Human Life International, supposedly the largest network of "pro-life advocates," for his nine-year tenure as mayor and pro-life leader.

Lotilla, appointed at the DoE in March 2005, explained his resignation thus: "It's a good time to leave because now you have a new Congress. If there's some sense of how long you are going to stay, you are again committed for another three years, and that would really be quite a long time for me."

Lotilla added: "I've been asking to resign for some time now. Oh, boy! Way back in 2003 pa ako, I've asked permission to leave government. "

Asked what would be his plans after his stint at the government, Lotilla said he would take the much needed vacation he has been longing for. “I want to regain my intellectual appetite," he told reporters during the closing ceremony of the three-day CSR Expo 2007 held at the Hotel Sofitel on Wednesday.

Prior to his appointment as Energy secretary, Lotilla was president and chief executive officer of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.

Lotilla admitted that one of his biggest frustrations in the Energy department was the non-passage of the renewable energy bill, which has been pending in Congress for several years now. “My biggest frustration is that we are not able to pass into law the RE bill in the last Congress because time caught up on us."

He said he started his stint in government service in 1984, shortly after graduation from the UP College of Law, and except for a 10-month break for masteral studies in the US, has logged 23 years of service. - GMANews.TV

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