Arroyo accepts Roco's resignation

President Gloria Arroyo finally ended three days of intense speculation over the fate of her most popular Cabinet member, referring to the resignation of Education Secretary Raul Roco from his post as the "loss of a good public servant".

In his press briefing, Ignacio Bunye, press secretary and acting spokesman for Arroyo, said the president had an hour-long meeting with Roco before she accepted his resignation.

Arroyo's protracted decision to let go of Roco have left political observers hanging on whether the president will allow her potential rival for the 2004 presidential election to leave government service.

Roco earlier cited a corruption investigation, ordered by the president, as the cause of his resignation.

But in his statement, Bunye said: "Roco's resignation is an unfortunate reaction, to what is after all, the common situation of all public servants, which is to be open to all types of public complaints and to defend oneself in a fair investigation.

"His resignation is even more unfortunate as the investigation just started is also an opportunity to show these charges as unfounded. We are all bound by duty to resolve complaints from the people we serve."

The press secretary quoted Alberto Romulo, the executive secretary as having described that the meeting between the president and Roco was very cordial. Bunye also said: "there is no word yet" on who possibly would be appointed by the president to replace Roco in the Department of Education (DepEd).

He also shrugged off claims from detractors that officials close to Arroyo eased out Roco since the official is a likely bet in the 2004 presidential election.

He said: "Well, that's very unfortunate because everybody seems to be thinking about 2004 when it's still far away. And the stand of the president has always been to concentrate on the work at hand.

"And she doesn't want to be distracted by any other activities other than to deliver on what she has promised in her state of the nation address on July 15."

He added the president looks forward to working with Roco again.

"The president has expressed her hope that the secretary will be able to work with her in some other capacity." But working under the Arroyo administration seems far fetched for Roco.

During an interview in a television programme 'Isyu,' Roco likened his situation to a character in the play 'Theatre of the Absurd' who gets punished every time he did something good.

"It is like the Theatre of the Absurd, no good deed is rewarded. Instead, if you do good, you will be punished," he said during the interview.

Just days after Roco topped an independent survey as the candidate most likely to get votes in the 2004 presidential election, Arroyo endorsed the investigation on graft charges against the then education secretary which was filed by the DepEd Central Office Employees Union.

The DepEd Central Office Employees Union accused Roco of using the department's funds to finance an early campaign for president after he ordered the printing of 200,000 posters baring his portrait.

The union filed the charges as early as last year but Arroyo only endorsed the resolution to investigate the issue this week. Roco bared that the resolution to investigate had at the start, an agenda to replace him as DepEd secretary.

"It was a resolution to replace me. The letter contained a resolution to replace me and she endorsed it," he said.

Under Roco, the DepEd had been transformed from one of the most corrupt and inefficient departments to one of the top performing executive agencies.