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Raissa Robles

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lost another cabinet minister yesterday after ordering him to be investigated for graft - a move widely perceived as a disguised attempt to silence a political rival.

Education Secretary Raul Roco resigned in a huff yesterday, a day after news broke that Mrs Arroyo had personally ordered Presidential Anti-Graft Commission chief Dario Rama to investigate complaints filed against Mr Roco by the Education Department's employees' union.

Mrs Arroyo's political allies all said her timing was off: it came 10 days after the leftist Ibon Research Foundation published survey results showing that if presidential elections were held now, most of the 1,014 respondents would vote for Mr Roco. Ousted president Joseph Estrada came in second, followed by Mrs Arroyo.

Pro-administration Senator Loren Leviste said Mr Roco was targeted because of his 'potential as a strong contender for president in 2004'.

Mrs Arroyo is widely perceived to be running for the same post.

Analysts said Mrs Arroyo's mishandling of Mr Roco's case brought into question whether she had the political savvy to be elected into an office she now occupied by accident after Estrada was ousted.

Mr Roco, who came second in the 1998 presidential race that Estrada won, said Mrs Arroyo did not have the courtesy to ask him to explain the year-old graft charges, which resurfaced after he overhauled the basic education curriculum. 'There is no place in a democracy for humiliating people as a policy instrument. I take it as an expression of loss of confidence,' he said, adding he resigned 'as a point of honour'.

The accusations included assigning a government driver to chauffeur his wife, using government money to print 200,000 posters of himself and behaving abrasively towards employees.

But Mrs Arroyo never confronted him about these issues. Instead, in her recent State of the Nation address, she bragged about his accomplishments as those of her administration.

The opposition claimed she played favourites with certain appointees. For instance, the tax chief was unable to collect targeted revenues and was accused of giving seven billion pesos (HK$1.05 billion) worth of tax relief to a corporation he used to work for. Mrs Arroyo's reaction was to praise him as a model public servant.

Mr Roco's exit was least expected and 'a loss', said pro-administration Senator Robert Barbers, because he had implemented major educational reforms.

The United Nations Development Programme has pinpointed education as one of the means to reduce poverty.

In an attempt at damage control, presidential press secretary Ignacio Bunye said yesterday Mrs Arroyo would meet Mr Roco today to 'thrash out certain things', particularly the perception that her action was triggered by a survey.

Mrs Arroyo did not issue any statement.

Mr Bunye defended Mrs Arroyo's action as 'merely ministerial'. He denied Mr Roco had been singled out and said two other cabinet ministers were also under investigation for graft.

Mr Roco's resignation is the second seemingly mishandled by Mrs Arroyo.

Over a month ago, Vice-President Teofisto Guingona quit as foreign secretary after the president's aides had prematurely leaked his resignation letter.



Second Arroyo minister quits cabinet in huff