Palace: Honasan appointed for his management skills

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Gringo Honasan was appointed Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) not for his expertise in information technology but his management skills.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said this Tuesday as he defended President Duterte’s decision to appoint Honasan as DICT chief.

Honasan took his oath before Duterte in Malacañang on Monday afternoon before the monthly Cabinet meeting.

“Ang sagot ni Greg Honasan kagabi, sabi niya I was appointed not on my expertise in this line. I was appointed as a manager, as an administrator. And he has (an) AIM [Asian Institute of Management] degree for that. AIM graduate ito ng management,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

(Greg Honasan’s answer last night: ‘I appointed not on my expertise in this line. I was appointed as a manager, as an administrator.’ And he has an AIM [Asian Institute of Management] degree for that. AIM graduate ito ng management. He graduated with a degree in management.)

“You have to have expertise in managing the department,” he added.

However, Section 11 of Republic Act No. 10844, the law that created the DICT, states that “no person shall be appointed secretary, undersecretary or assistant secretary of the agency unless he or she has at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: information and communications technology, information technology service management, information security management, cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce or human development in the information communication technology sector.”

Panelo, who is also Duterte’s chief legal counsel, downplayed this as he stressed that experts can be tapped as Honasan’s consultants.

But another point runs counter to the former Army officer’s appointment, which is Article 6, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution, which bars any lawmaker from benefiting from an office created while he was a member of Congress.

The DICT Act was signed on May 23, 2016, when Honasan was still a senator.

Honasan, who has just finished his third and last term as a senator, is a former Philippine Army officer. He was part of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), a group of military officers that played a crucial role in the first Edsa people power revolution.

The former senator will be an addition to the Duterte Cabinet’s growing number of former military officers. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

READ: Honasan takes oath as new DICT chief, attends Cabinet meeting