DAVAO CITY—Former University of the Philippines professor Judy Taguiwalo and former Bayan Muna congressman Teddy Casiño confirmed Friday that they were among the candidates nominated by the National Democratic Front to join the incoming administration of President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte, who said he was impressed by the list of nominees, said he was inclined to give them positions in his Cabinet.
“I have submitted the documents to a screening committee. The reason why I am talking to them is, I was once upon a time left of center,” said Duterte, who has offered Cabinet posts to the communists as a confidence-building measure for resuming talks with the NDF.
“The left gave me a very impressive list of people who have the talent,” Duterte said. “I am inclined to give in. If we can talk smoothly and Jose Maria Sison [the exiled founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines] would come home in July, I’m ready to give more of them positions in government.”
He declined to name the NDF nominees, except to say that they were less than 10 and four of them were women.
Taguiwalo, the faculty regent of UP, confirmed she was nominated to head the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
“I am honored to be nominated by the CPP/NDF to the post of secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. That an incoming president of the Philippines is extending his hand to the Left and inviting the latter to be part of government is a historic act,” Taguiwalo said in her Facebook post.
Former Bayan Muna lawmaker Casiño confirmed that he is on the NDF shortlist, but denied any knowledge of the selection process.
“All I know is I am being considered for something. At this point, it could be premature if I mention anything. It is very good that President-elect Duterte is very open-minded and of course, he knows of our track record in Congress. We are incorruptible and we stick to our principles,” Casiño said in Filipino over radio dzMM.
Sources in leftist circles told The Standard on Thursday that among those recommended by the NDF panel are former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano for Agrarian Reform, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate for the Environment and Natural Resources, and Taguiwalo for Social Welfare and Development.
Casiño could replace Zarate for the DENR, if the latter serves another term as first nominee for the Bayan Muna party-list group.
Duterte had also offered the Labor and Employment portfolio to the left, but that position has since been offered to former Justice secretary Silvestre Bello III.
In the same radio interview, Casiño defended Duterte from accusations linking him to the death squad killings in Davao City.
“There’s no… smoking gun or proof that he himself ordered all of these. As I said, it is an issue that we are engaged in with Mayor Duterte, and we hope that if he’s already president, these [extrajudicual killings] won’t happen in the Philippines,” he said.
“[Human rights] will always be an issue that we will always argue with Mayor Duterte when he becomes president,” he added.
Also on Friday, the leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas welcomed the nomination of Mariano to head the Department of Agrarian Reform.
“The NDF nomination of Ka Paeng to the DAR is based on KMP’s resolute and militant struggle for genuine land reform,” KMP Secretary General Antonio Flores said.
“In light of the absence of a land reform law due to the death of the failed and sham comprehensive agrarian reform program, incoming president Duterte should seriously consider the NDF’s nomination of Ka Paeng to effect significant policy changes in the agrarian front,” Flores said.
Mariano would likely accept the DAR post “not merely at the pleasure of the President as alter ego but as the Filipino peasantry’s representative,” Flores said.
“Should Ka Paeng be appointed as DAR secretary, I am absolutely sure, he shall not depart and instead, will further link arms with the Filipino peasantry’s mass movement and militant struggle
against land-grabbing, land use and crops conversion, and other forms of feudal and semi-feudal exploitation,” he said.
The KMP called on Duterte to make good on his promise to resume the peace talks and proceed with an agreement on social and economic reforms that includes genuine land reform and national
industrialization.
“At the same time, we challenge Duterte to support and certify as urgent the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill as a step towards achieving peace, social justice, and genuine change in the countryside,” Flores said. With Rio N. Araja