Malacañang on Wednesday denied reports claiming that Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda are set to leave their posts in the Marcos administration.
In a press briefing, Palace Press Officer and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro emphasized that both officials were present at Monday’s Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting and had also presented their projects during a private meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“Denied po dahil kahapon lamang po ay kasama namin sila sa LEDAC meeting at nagbigay din po sila ng kanilang mga proyekto sa private meeting with the President (We deny this because they were with us at yesterday's LEDAC meeting. They also presented their projects in a private meeting with the President) So, we denied [the information about their departure],” Castro said.
Castro was reacting to circulating reports that Angara and Aguda could be at risk of losing their Cabinet positions.
Angara earlier dismissed any suggestion that he should resign, stressing that allegations linking him to kickbacks from fund insertions during his tenure as Senate Finance Committee chair are baseless and unsupported by evidence.
Meanwhile, Aguda said he was unaware of the alleged P6.5-billion insertion in the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) budget this year.
When asked about the possibility of a broader Cabinet reshuffle, Castro said there is no update, noting that the President is currently satisfied with the performance of his secretaries.
“Kuntento po ang ating Pangulo sa lahat ng kaniyang mga Cabinet secretaries at habang nanatili sila diyan, nandiyan pa rin po ang tiwala ng ating Pangulo sa kanila (The President is content with his Cabinet secretaries and as long as they stay there, the President continues to trust them),” she said.