{"id":139970,"date":"2017-12-18T03:54:57","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T08:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=139970"},"modified":"2017-12-18T03:54:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T08:54:57","slug":"legarda-on-dswd-post-can-i-say-that-i-am-thinking-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/18\/legarda-on-dswd-post-can-i-say-that-i-am-thinking-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Legarda on DSWD post: ‘Can I say that I am thinking about it?’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo:<\/a>
FILE: Senator Loren Legarda (Photo<\/a>: Loren Legarda\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senator Loren Legarda chose to dodge questions and beat around the bush on the topic of accepting a cabinet post from the President.<\/p>\n

Talks have been circulating that a certain female senator will be named as the next Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary, after the Commission on Appointments (CA) rejected Judy Taguiwalo.<\/p>\n

ANC pressed Legarda on the issue through an interview on Monday, with the female Senator pausing, smiling, then replying, \u201cCan I say that I am thinking about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Legarda was asked for confirmation that she was indeed offered the post, but she chose to attack a different angle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not certain whether I am allowed to comment on that on national television, but my being mum about it would probably\u2026 spill the beans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me just say that I would want to exercise very strong oversight functions over a department that is very important, that takes care of the needs of the people,\u201d Legarda added.<\/p>\n

Again pressed if she was open to the position, Legarda dodged the question by saying, \u201cJust like I do oversight functions with all other government departments\u2026 but this is a very important department that should take care of the poorest and the most vulnerable populations like what is happening now with Urduja.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senator was referring to the casualties caused by Tropical Depression Urduja.<\/p>\n

Legarda did not answer directly if President Rodrigo Duterte indeed offered her the DSWD post.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is that I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to serve as a chair of finance, and I think that the President hopefully appreciates the work we do, not just myself but the whole Senate. And I hope to continue and finish the 2019 budget which is a year from now. Let\u2019s take it from there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In August, Duterte told reporters in a dinner that he hinted an informal offer to a female senator even before the CA rejected Taguiwalo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Loren Legarda chose to dodge questions and beat around the bush on the topic of accepting a cabinet post …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":140057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[13363,13146,4534,2444,39421],"class_list":["post-139970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-department-of-social-welfare-and-development","tag-judy-taguiwalo","tag-loren-legarda","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-urduja","mauthors-bea-kirstein-t-manalaysay","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}