Post by Forum Moderator / Kaskasero on Jul 14, 2008 20:39:42 GMT 8
I’ve always proven critics wrong, I’m fit for SSS–Neri
By : Mia M. Gonzalez with Claudette Mocon, Czeriza Valencia | Business Mirror
11 July 2008 | 3:01 PM
Newly designated Social Security System (SSS) Administrator Romulo Neri on Thursday promised to prove his critics wrong, claiming he had done so in the past, and asserted that he is fit to lead the government financial institution and oversee the national social- welfare program in these “challenging” times.
Speaking to reporters after he signed a memorandum of understanding between the Busan (Korea) Metropolitan Department of Education and the Philippine government at the Palace Reception Hall, Neri urged his critics in the Senate to consider his performance record and his credentials and not prejudge him.
“They can check my record in government. Even in Congress, I was appointed six times [as head of the National Budget Planning Office in the House] by five Speakers. I’ve worked in Neda, DBM, Ched. I have had no problems. . .I think I have performed satisfactorily,” said Neri.
Asked whether he is prepared to prove his critics wrong, he said: “I’ve never doubted it. I’ve always proven them wrong before.”
He recalled that when he was appointed as budget secretary in 2005, after Emilia Boncodin left with the Hyatt 10, former education secretary Florencio Abad described the appointment as “like putting Dracula in the blood bank.”
“But I think I performed decentl in DBM and there were no such Draculas-in-a-blood-bank phenomenon that occurred in the DBM,” said Neri, who was officially informed about his appointment this week, but had previously discussed it with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
He said it is “unfair” to insinuate that his appointment, which carries a Cabinet rank as cluster head of the national social-welfare program, is a means of silencing him with regard to the botched national broadband deal with ZTE Co. He has qualifications suited for his fourth job in the Arroyo administration, he added.
Neri noted that his field of expertise is really finance and business management (he has a Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of California in Los Angeles, with majors in finance and international business) and he teaches finance at the Asian Institute of Management, including investment banking, pension-fund management and financial derivatives.
“I guess the President has very, very good reasons for putting me there and putting me as the coordinator or cluster head for the social-welfare programs because the needs of the times call for better social-welfare programs that are more integrated,” he said.
Neri said the President apparently chose him to replace Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo, who has resigned effective end-July, because of such new challenges which would require “safety nets as these pressures become more and more severe.”
He praised his predecessor: “Cora de la Paz has done very well. She’s a professional; she’s very much respected in business circles and I have known her for a long time. But I guess these are new challenging times, there are new challenges to be met. The issue of social welfare is becoming more and more important.”
He said he was to submit to the President a framework on the national social welfare program that afternoon, to be the base of future decisions on social welfare programs.
“Within the framework, we will have to find out how best to meet this deficit between incomes and expenses of our households.”
Neri brushed aside concerns about any possible misuse of pension funds during his watch and noted that decisions made by the body are collective, and deliberated on by representatives from labor and employers. “I think that alone should ensure that the funds will be properly used. . . .I’m sure that SSS workers are very, very active people; they won’t let shenanigans happen.”
On the opposition of the SSS workers’ union to his appointment, Neri said he has “lived with all sorts of personalities and groups, and I guess we have to understand each other and I’m sure we will understand each other.”
Business leaders Donald Dee and Sergio Ortiz-Luis, commissioners representing the private sector in the SSS, support Neri’s appointment and urged his critics to give him a chance.
“He is also a very intelligent person so I guess most of the comments are political in nature and I do know that he is not a political person so I think we should give him a chance,” said Ortiz-Luis.
He and Dee said in separate interviews that concerns about possible SSS fund diversion or misuse are “unfounded” since decisions are collegial and nature and not made by any single individual.
“We are subject to (investigation by) the Ombudsman so I don’t think the commission will allow that,” added Ortiz-Luis.
Dee said SSS commissioners will never agree to any decision that would compromise the integrity of the SSS or that are detrimental to its members.
Dela Paz described her successor as “experienced” and “competent enough” to do the job but “what he needs to do now is to gain the public trust.”
De la Paz called on SSS employees to “continue their hard work” under Neri’s leadership.
Neri on Thursday denied his new appointment was given to him for maintaining his silence on the details of the botched $329-million national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. that includes his conversation with President Arroyo. “It’s very unfair. In the first place I did not ask for it.”
On his stint at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), he said he was put there by the President to “trouble-shoot” the problems at the agency and that he had now already done his job.
Meanwhile, sources at the CHED said that Commissioner Nona Ricafort now has an edge over Angeles University Foundation Chancellor Manny Angeles, who was supposed to be the replacement of Neri.
By : Mia M. Gonzalez with Claudette Mocon, Czeriza Valencia | Business Mirror
11 July 2008 | 3:01 PM
Newly designated Social Security System (SSS) Administrator Romulo Neri on Thursday promised to prove his critics wrong, claiming he had done so in the past, and asserted that he is fit to lead the government financial institution and oversee the national social- welfare program in these “challenging” times.
Speaking to reporters after he signed a memorandum of understanding between the Busan (Korea) Metropolitan Department of Education and the Philippine government at the Palace Reception Hall, Neri urged his critics in the Senate to consider his performance record and his credentials and not prejudge him.
“They can check my record in government. Even in Congress, I was appointed six times [as head of the National Budget Planning Office in the House] by five Speakers. I’ve worked in Neda, DBM, Ched. I have had no problems. . .I think I have performed satisfactorily,” said Neri.
Asked whether he is prepared to prove his critics wrong, he said: “I’ve never doubted it. I’ve always proven them wrong before.”
He recalled that when he was appointed as budget secretary in 2005, after Emilia Boncodin left with the Hyatt 10, former education secretary Florencio Abad described the appointment as “like putting Dracula in the blood bank.”
“But I think I performed decentl in DBM and there were no such Draculas-in-a-blood-bank phenomenon that occurred in the DBM,” said Neri, who was officially informed about his appointment this week, but had previously discussed it with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
He said it is “unfair” to insinuate that his appointment, which carries a Cabinet rank as cluster head of the national social-welfare program, is a means of silencing him with regard to the botched national broadband deal with ZTE Co. He has qualifications suited for his fourth job in the Arroyo administration, he added.
Neri noted that his field of expertise is really finance and business management (he has a Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of California in Los Angeles, with majors in finance and international business) and he teaches finance at the Asian Institute of Management, including investment banking, pension-fund management and financial derivatives.
“I guess the President has very, very good reasons for putting me there and putting me as the coordinator or cluster head for the social-welfare programs because the needs of the times call for better social-welfare programs that are more integrated,” he said.
Neri said the President apparently chose him to replace Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo, who has resigned effective end-July, because of such new challenges which would require “safety nets as these pressures become more and more severe.”
He praised his predecessor: “Cora de la Paz has done very well. She’s a professional; she’s very much respected in business circles and I have known her for a long time. But I guess these are new challenging times, there are new challenges to be met. The issue of social welfare is becoming more and more important.”
He said he was to submit to the President a framework on the national social welfare program that afternoon, to be the base of future decisions on social welfare programs.
“Within the framework, we will have to find out how best to meet this deficit between incomes and expenses of our households.”
Neri brushed aside concerns about any possible misuse of pension funds during his watch and noted that decisions made by the body are collective, and deliberated on by representatives from labor and employers. “I think that alone should ensure that the funds will be properly used. . . .I’m sure that SSS workers are very, very active people; they won’t let shenanigans happen.”
On the opposition of the SSS workers’ union to his appointment, Neri said he has “lived with all sorts of personalities and groups, and I guess we have to understand each other and I’m sure we will understand each other.”
Business leaders Donald Dee and Sergio Ortiz-Luis, commissioners representing the private sector in the SSS, support Neri’s appointment and urged his critics to give him a chance.
“He is also a very intelligent person so I guess most of the comments are political in nature and I do know that he is not a political person so I think we should give him a chance,” said Ortiz-Luis.
He and Dee said in separate interviews that concerns about possible SSS fund diversion or misuse are “unfounded” since decisions are collegial and nature and not made by any single individual.
“We are subject to (investigation by) the Ombudsman so I don’t think the commission will allow that,” added Ortiz-Luis.
Dee said SSS commissioners will never agree to any decision that would compromise the integrity of the SSS or that are detrimental to its members.
Dela Paz described her successor as “experienced” and “competent enough” to do the job but “what he needs to do now is to gain the public trust.”
De la Paz called on SSS employees to “continue their hard work” under Neri’s leadership.
Neri on Thursday denied his new appointment was given to him for maintaining his silence on the details of the botched $329-million national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. that includes his conversation with President Arroyo. “It’s very unfair. In the first place I did not ask for it.”
On his stint at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), he said he was put there by the President to “trouble-shoot” the problems at the agency and that he had now already done his job.
Meanwhile, sources at the CHED said that Commissioner Nona Ricafort now has an edge over Angeles University Foundation Chancellor Manny Angeles, who was supposed to be the replacement of Neri.