Administration solons urge Arroyo to fire PRC chief

By Philip Tubeza
Inquirer
Last updated 08:50pm (Mla time) 10/11/2006

ADMINISTRATION lawmakers on Wednesday urged Malacañang to consider replacing Professional Regulation Commission Chair Leonor Tripon-Rosero for publicly criticizing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s order putting the PRC under the supervision of Department of Labor and Employment.

Representatives Marcelino Libanan (Lakas, Eastern Samar) and Eduardo Veloso (Nationalist People's Coalition, Leyte) said Rosero displayed “arrogance and insubordination'' and that the Palace should not tolerate her “improper conduct.''

Libanan said what Rosero did was “unfair to the President'' since the chief executive as well as the Cabinet were trying to find ways to “patch the hole on the integrity of the nursing profession which the PRC failed to protect” after the nursing exam leaks.

“The least thing the PRC chair could do is to coordinate and cooperate instead of launching her tirades and getting into a word war against government officials concerned. That was arrogance on her part,'' Libanan said.

Rosero told a Senate budget hearing on Tuesday that Arroyo's order was “improper'' and then attacked Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and Commission on Filipinos Overseas Chairman Dante Ang as “intruders.''

The two men are pushing for a retake, while Rosero has stuck to her stand against it.

Libanan said that Malacañang deemed it wise to freeze the retake order to wait for the result of the National Bureau of Investigation's inquiry.

“The leak proves the PRC's failure but the Palace is taking the brunt for it. The PRC should be made to take full responsibility for this fiasco,'' Libanan said. “If they have any delicadeza left, PRC officials should resign.''

Veloso said Rosero's act of publicly criticizing the President's order was uncalled for.

“If she has some misgivings about it, then she should have met privately with the President and discussed these with her. What she did was clear arrogance and insubordination,'' Veloso said.