Villar’s appointment: wrong start for Duterte

The reported appointment of Mark Villar, son of former Senate president Manuel Villar and incumbent Sen. Cynthia Villar, to the Cabinet position of public works secretary has not been well-received. The first reaction was on the issue of conflict of interest, given that the Villars are into property development. Which reminds us of the C-5 extension controversy, where Villar the father, then a senator, allegedly used his influence with the Department of Public Works and Highways so that the C-5 Road Extension would pass through his real estate properties and connect to a link road adjacent to more of his commercial land.

Some, if not many, Filipinos think that the decision by presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is “flawed.” Why? Because Mark Villar obviously does not have the qualifications for the position. As one friend wrote: “Developing and selling subdivisions is DIFFERENT from building public infra—roads, bridges, flyovers, tunnels.”

We are not sure if Mark Villar has a civil engineering or any allied degree. The information we received is that he has a political science and philosophy degrees. The question is: Has he built roads, bridges and other public works of high construction quality?

Worse, political patronage is a travesty of the “change” that Duterte has promised to pursue under his administration. We are told that the position was not offered to the young Villar, but was asked by his parents.

Lest I be misconstrued, I am not after any position in the Cabinet. Our advocacy is for the new President to succeed by appointing the right people to the right positions!!! The appointment of Mark Villar as public works secretary is not a good start for the Duterte administration.

However, Villar can be much better than the present public works secretary whose projects, like the notorious reblocking, road widening and double asphalt overlay, are not needed. Worse, almost all of these public infra projects are substandard and obscenely overpriced.

It would better serve the presumptive President-elect if he reconsiders his offer to the young Villar who just won a seat in Congress. If he really has to appoint Mark Villar, then he can give him other positions in, say, the Department of Tourism or the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

The appointment of Mark Villar to the DPWH confirms the need for an effective search committee to screen prospective presidential appointees to key government posts (“For best find, start with ‘right’ searchers,” Opinion, 5/17/16). While it is understandable for the presumptive President-elect to appoint persons who helped him during the campaign, it is important that they are appointed to the right positions to make them effective.

—RICARDO B. RAMOS,

executive director,

Citizens Infrastructure Integrity WatchDog (InfraWatch)