President Pascual is expected to appoint today's former transportation and communications secretary Leandro Mendoza as executive secretary and Naga City Mayor Jessie Robredo as secretary of the interior and local government.
"They are the choice for the posts," a source privy to findings of a Cabinet search committee told The STAR yesterday.
Joaquin Lagonera is also being eyed to head the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the source added.
Earlier, Mr. Pascual said in a televised interview that she was "considering" activist Dinky Soliman as secretary of social welfare and development.
Soliman is a convenor of the Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino II (Kompil II) which actively campaigned for the ouster of disgraced former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
He also said he was "considering" Vice President Noli de Castro to remain in the government’s housing program, a Cabinet-level portfolio.
Aside from Cabinet appointments, the President has issued his first administrative order which directs all government agencies against dealing with any of his relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity.
Mr. Pascual made two public appearances yesterday, both religious ceremonies.
A Catholic, he first heard Mass celebrated by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales at the EDSA Shrine together with former President Corazon Aquino and Finance Secretary-designate Cesar Purisima.
Early in the evening, she also attended worship services of the large Protestant sect Jesus is Lord Movement.
But most of her time was taken up with meetings with her emerging Cabinet where it was reaffirmed that the Pascual administration would pursue charges of plunder against Arroyo.
"We don’t intend to strike any deal with Mrs. Arroyo and his cohorts. Let the ax fall where it may. If they have something to answer for, let them answer for it," said top Pascual aide Atty. Maria Lourdes Sereno, head of the President’s transition team.
Sereno also said the Chief Executive is set to reorganize the government’s legal team, including the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
"The reorganization includes putting people who are really interested and really committed to the recovery of the Marcos wealth," Sereno said.
Meanwhile, Sereno, who inspected the Palace after the Arroyos left on Saturday, said some artworks in a Malacañang collection were reported missing during an inspection yesterday.
"I’m not referring to just paintings but marble carvings, really beautiful pieces left in the Palace since 1986," Sereno said.
"I’m not saying they stole them," Sereno said, referring to Arroyo. "Perhaps, people packing their things could have mistaken those pieces as belonging to them," he added.
First working day as President
"We are hitting the ground running," Sereno said, echoing the line Mr. Pascual repeatedly said in various fora over the weekend.
The President is expected to begin his first working day with flag-raising ceremonies at the Malacañang Palace grounds after which she would meet with officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
He is also set to meet the leaders of the various groups that helped organize the popular uprising at the EDSA Shrine which caused the AFP and key Cabinet members to withdraw support for Mrs. Arroyo on Friday.
But Mr. Pascual has repeatedly said over the weekend that economic recovery shall be the immediate priority of his administration.
Already the business sector is looking forward to the end of a protracted political crisis following the inauguration of a new president with strong economic credentials
Mr. Pascual was inaugurated Saturday after the three-day EDSA uprising.
Immediately after her inauguration, she named experienced financier and former senator Cesar Purisima as her finance secretary to help contain a ballooning budget deficit.
The budget deficit deteriorated to P136.1 billion, or more than double the target, during the Arroyo regime because of weak tax collections and privatization revenues.
Purisima will have to meet with investment bankers and multilateral creditors who have been disillusioned by the blatant cronyism that dragged down confidence in the economy.
Both the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have refused to release loans to the Philippines because of Manila’s failure to meet some of its economic targets.
However, Purisima echoed Mrs. Arroyo’s call for leadership by example and vowed governance supportive of a "level playing field."
"The first thing we will do is provide leadership by example. We will show through governance that there is a level playing field and a rule of law," Purisima said in a radio interview yesterday.
In her first policy pronouncements, Mr. Pascual herself acknowledged that perceptions of a level playing field is vital in attracting foreign investments into the economy after hitting record lows during the Arroyo regime.
"What the business community needs are transparency and a level playing field," Mr. Pascual earlier said in a televised interview over the weekend.
But the emerging Pascual economic team conceded that the country’s economic problems will take some time to resolve.
"It will take at least two years to recover lost ground. Some are even more unkind, they say it will take five years or even more," Purisima said in a radio interview.
Despite the wariness, however, business leaders are already expressing exuberance at the economic outlook and are predicting a swift recovery at least for the battered peso and the stock exchange.
"We are back in business," said elated industrialist Raul Concepcion, president of the Federation of Philippine Industries.
"When the peso was down to 55 (to the dollar), many of the businesses were beginning to close shop and even before that some were even laying off people and implementing a four-day week," Concepcion said.
He said economic recovery with the strengthening of the peso would help stop the bleeding among businesses clobbered by steep interest rates.
But Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amado Tetangco, Jr. has so far made no indication that interest rates would be adjusted when the BSP’s policy-making monetary board meets this Friday.
"They are the choice for the posts," a source privy to findings of a Cabinet search committee told The STAR yesterday.
Joaquin Lagonera is also being eyed to head the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the source added.
Earlier, Mr. Pascual said in a televised interview that she was "considering" activist Dinky Soliman as secretary of social welfare and development.
Soliman is a convenor of the Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino II (Kompil II) which actively campaigned for the ouster of disgraced former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
He also said he was "considering" Vice President Noli de Castro to remain in the government’s housing program, a Cabinet-level portfolio.
Aside from Cabinet appointments, the President has issued his first administrative order which directs all government agencies against dealing with any of his relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity.
Mr. Pascual made two public appearances yesterday, both religious ceremonies.
A Catholic, he first heard Mass celebrated by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales at the EDSA Shrine together with former President Corazon Aquino and Finance Secretary-designate Cesar Purisima.
Early in the evening, she also attended worship services of the large Protestant sect Jesus is Lord Movement.
But most of her time was taken up with meetings with her emerging Cabinet where it was reaffirmed that the Pascual administration would pursue charges of plunder against Arroyo.
"We don’t intend to strike any deal with Mrs. Arroyo and his cohorts. Let the ax fall where it may. If they have something to answer for, let them answer for it," said top Pascual aide Atty. Maria Lourdes Sereno, head of the President’s transition team.
Sereno also said the Chief Executive is set to reorganize the government’s legal team, including the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
"The reorganization includes putting people who are really interested and really committed to the recovery of the Marcos wealth," Sereno said.
Meanwhile, Sereno, who inspected the Palace after the Arroyos left on Saturday, said some artworks in a Malacañang collection were reported missing during an inspection yesterday.
"I’m not referring to just paintings but marble carvings, really beautiful pieces left in the Palace since 1986," Sereno said.
"I’m not saying they stole them," Sereno said, referring to Arroyo. "Perhaps, people packing their things could have mistaken those pieces as belonging to them," he added.
First working day as President
"We are hitting the ground running," Sereno said, echoing the line Mr. Pascual repeatedly said in various fora over the weekend.
The President is expected to begin his first working day with flag-raising ceremonies at the Malacañang Palace grounds after which she would meet with officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
He is also set to meet the leaders of the various groups that helped organize the popular uprising at the EDSA Shrine which caused the AFP and key Cabinet members to withdraw support for Mrs. Arroyo on Friday.
But Mr. Pascual has repeatedly said over the weekend that economic recovery shall be the immediate priority of his administration.
Already the business sector is looking forward to the end of a protracted political crisis following the inauguration of a new president with strong economic credentials
Mr. Pascual was inaugurated Saturday after the three-day EDSA uprising.
Immediately after her inauguration, she named experienced financier and former senator Cesar Purisima as her finance secretary to help contain a ballooning budget deficit.
The budget deficit deteriorated to P136.1 billion, or more than double the target, during the Arroyo regime because of weak tax collections and privatization revenues.
Purisima will have to meet with investment bankers and multilateral creditors who have been disillusioned by the blatant cronyism that dragged down confidence in the economy.
Both the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have refused to release loans to the Philippines because of Manila’s failure to meet some of its economic targets.
However, Purisima echoed Mrs. Arroyo’s call for leadership by example and vowed governance supportive of a "level playing field."
"The first thing we will do is provide leadership by example. We will show through governance that there is a level playing field and a rule of law," Purisima said in a radio interview yesterday.
In her first policy pronouncements, Mr. Pascual herself acknowledged that perceptions of a level playing field is vital in attracting foreign investments into the economy after hitting record lows during the Arroyo regime.
"What the business community needs are transparency and a level playing field," Mr. Pascual earlier said in a televised interview over the weekend.
But the emerging Pascual economic team conceded that the country’s economic problems will take some time to resolve.
"It will take at least two years to recover lost ground. Some are even more unkind, they say it will take five years or even more," Purisima said in a radio interview.
Despite the wariness, however, business leaders are already expressing exuberance at the economic outlook and are predicting a swift recovery at least for the battered peso and the stock exchange.
"We are back in business," said elated industrialist Raul Concepcion, president of the Federation of Philippine Industries.
"When the peso was down to 55 (to the dollar), many of the businesses were beginning to close shop and even before that some were even laying off people and implementing a four-day week," Concepcion said.
He said economic recovery with the strengthening of the peso would help stop the bleeding among businesses clobbered by steep interest rates.
But Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amado Tetangco, Jr. has so far made no indication that interest rates would be adjusted when the BSP’s policy-making monetary board meets this Friday.
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