Manila, Philippines — When resigned Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Margarita P. Juico received a sudden call from Malacañang at about 4 p.m. Thursday, she sensed right away that it was time to go.
Without dilly-dallying, Juico started writing her resignation letter in her own handwriting.
“This is to tender my resignation as chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Thank you for the honor of serving your administration,” read Juico’s handwritten resignation letter.
“The chairman knew then that it was coming; that she would be told about the President’s plans to replace her at the PCSO,” the source, who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak on behalf of Juico, said.
The source told the Manila Bulletin that the call came from Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, who had asked her to go to Malacañang.
Knowing what the call meant, Juico immediately proceeded to Ochoa’s office in Malacañang to hand over her resignation letter.
Big surprise
No one at PCSO, not even her closest staff, knew what was going on, the source said.
Not the board directors, not PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II, and not even the assistant general managers had an inkling of the big development triggered by the Palace call that came on a sizzling Thursday afternoon, the source said.
“We were all surprised,” a senior assistant general manager, who also declined to be identified, said.
While Juico tendered her resignation from the Aquino administration, the source said she and her family’s support and loyalty to President Aquino still remain.
In what could be her last and final press conference at the PCSO last Friday, she revealed that she had long wanted to resign but held on until the Palace call came.
Ochoa had wanted her to stay until the end of the month, but she asked the “Little President” to act immediately on her resignation because she doesn’t want to secure anymore a travel order when she goes abroad soon.
When she met with journalists covering the PCSO last Friday, she was asked whether her board directors would be affected by the changes at the agency.
Political losers want PCSO posts
Rather than answering the question, Juico said, “Political losers always see the PCSO as a plum position.”
Asked why, she said, “Kasi maraming pera, especially now.”
“What I am going to leave behind is P16 billion,” Juico said, adding that the previous PCSO leadership only left behind P3 billion in cash as well as P7 billion in debts.
She said that after May 13, many defeated candidates in the 2013 elections would be placed in positions anywhere. The former PCSO official was referring to the one-year ban on defeated candidates since the May, 2013, political exercise.
“Alam mo, they always see the PCSO as a plum position. Ang hindi nila alam ang suweldo ng PCSO chairman ang baba na ngayon. Aywan ko kung alam nila ‘yon,” she said.
Juico was in good spirits, smiling, and laughing with the reporters present at her briefing. Even when she bid goodbye to her directors she did not show any sadness.
After her resignation, she said she will rest first. Rejoining the government is not yet in her mind even if offered anew by the President.
But she will continue her advocacy with her group, the Yellow Ribbon Movement (YRM) that she and other women leaders established to support the candidacy of President Aquino in the May, 2010, presidential elections.
Making a difference
How does she want to be remembered as PCSO head?
“As the chairman who made a difference in the PCSO,” she said.
Juico also maintained that her resignation had nothing to do with the issue regarding Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club because the latter had accepted that his infraction carried a penalty.
Meanwhile, Malacañang remains mum on the appointment of a new PCSO chairman, despite reports that former Cavite Rep. Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi will take Juico’s vacated post.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte could not confirm reports that Maliksi, a Liberal Party (LP) member, will be the new PCSO chairman.
Asked if Maliksi is one of the contenders, Valte said, “I really also don’t have information on that. As (Presidential Communications) Secretary (Herminio) Coloma said, let us just wait for an announcement, if any, on who will take over the chairmanship of the PCSO next.”
At the House of Representatives, Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. lashed out at Makabayan bloc colleagues for accusing President Aquino’s LP of supposedly taking control of the PCSO in preparation for the 2016 presidential polls.
“Fertile imagination” was his response when asked to comment on the accusations of progressive congressmen.
Progressive solons believe that Juico’s resignation had something to do with the looming showdown between Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II in the 2016 presidential elections. (With reports from Genalyn D. Kabiling and Charissa M. Luci)