MANILA, Philippines - Instead of heeding Malacañang's call to give former Sen. Ralph Recto a chance to lead the National Economic and Development
Authority, a senior Catholic bishop dared Recto - and other appointees - to earn the public's trust instead.
Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz said Recto and other Palace "political" appointees that their appointments are not mere political accommodations.
"Let them exert their best efforts to achieve the goal of their respective offices and at the same time demonstrate their honesty and integrity while in office," Cruz said in a statement on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website.
He said that since President Arroyo's image has been tainted, her new appointees must try to refute public notion that the government is inutile in curbing graft and corruption.
Recto is the third defeated administration senatorial candidate to be named to a government post, after Michael Defensor as head of a task force on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, and former Sen. Vicente Sotto III as head of the Dangerous Drugs Board.
Cruz urged the new officials to prove their real capabilities in their respective positions by practicing transparency "unlike their superiors."
"Let them not allow Malacañang to make them pawns in its many and big graft and corrupt practices," he said. - GMANews.TV