Laguesma, Ople, Balisacan join Marcos Cabinet

MANILA – Three people have accepted the offer to be part of the incoming Cabinet of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., spokesperson Vic Rodriguez said on Monday.

Rodriguez said former Labor secretary Bienvenido “Benny” Laguesma and overseas Filipino worker advocate Susan “Toots” Ople have accepted the designations to lead the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Migrant Workers, respectively.

“Yes, they both accepted their nomination,” Rodriguez said in a text message.

Laguesma headed DOLE during the Estrada administration, while Ople was labor undersecretary during the Arroyo administration.

Meanwhile, Marcos said he has tapped current Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) chair Arsenio Balisacan to head the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), adding that the latter has accepted the offer.

Balisacan served as director general of NEDA under the late former President Benigno Aquino III.

“I’ve asked him to return to NEDA. I’ve worked with him extensively at the time when I was governor, we have very similar thinking in that regard kaya’t malakas ang loob ko (I am confident), I know he’s very competent, I know his policies are policies that will be for the betterment of our country,” Marcos said.

Balisacan, meanwhile, said he will join the new Cabinet after six years of leading the PCC, “mindful of the immense work needed to accelerate economic recovery and post-recovery development.”

“In returning to a post I have previously held, we rely on experience and judicious reckoning of socio economic issues to build stronger foundations for a more robust, more inclusive, and more resilient Philippine economy,” he added.