BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE Arroyo Cabinet yesterday rejected calls
for their mass resignation, saying they prefer to stay with
President Arroyo who they said deserves to finish her term in
2010.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who read
a one-page joint Cabinet statement, said all members of the
Cabinet "are solidly behind" Arroyo.
Ermita belied reports that some of Arroyo’s
economic managers, led by Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, are
considering quitting.
He said the economic managers are signatories
to the statement.
"There are no talks about anybody getting out
of the Cabinet. So I stand by this statement I just read. Nobody
in the Cabinet. I mean everybody in the Cabinet is sticking out
with us. We stand together," he said.
Copies of the three-paragraph "Joint
Statement" were given to media but these did not show the
signatories.
There are at least 30 Cabinet officials,
including presidential advisers and assistants.
"We in the Cabinet will not allow ourselves
to be distracted by political noises. The Cabinet members take
pride in working with the President in uplifting the lives of
the people," the statement said.
The statement said the allegations of Rodolfo
Noel "Jun" Lozada regarding the now-cancelled national broadband
network project should be taken up in court.
Lozada is the star witness in the Senate’s
investigation on the alleged anomalous NBN project.
Last Sunday, at least 60 former senior
officials from the Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo governments
urged the present Cabinet to "cut clean" and expose wrongdoings
in the administration.
They issued the statement in a Mass held at
the La Salle Greenhills for Lozada.
