Resignations under the Aquino administration

Reynaldo Santos Jr

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PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima is the latest official to resign under the Aquino administration

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima is the latest official to resign under the Aquino administration.

Malacañang announced on Thursday, February 5, that President Benigno Aquino III has already accepted Purisima’s resignation.

The announcement came almost 2 weeks after the botched police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that killed 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF). Purisima, who was suspended since December 2014, supervised the operation.

Since 2010, a number of officials under the current administration have stepped down due to various reasons. While most of them pushed through, Aquino declined some of the resignation offers. 

Click on the years below to see the list of officials who quit the Aquino administration.

November 23 – Tourism Undersecretary for Planning Promotions Vicente Romano III resigned as he took full responsibility for the widely-criticized “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign.

January 31 – Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Jose Melo resigned 4 years before his term of office ends.

April 8 – Deputy Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni resigned after complaints are filed against him, including alleged usurpation of authority.

May 6 – Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez resigned after the House of Representatives voted to impeach her. She was replaced by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.

May 30 – Bureau of Corrections Director Ernesto Diokno resigned after the escape of former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste from the New Bilibid Prisons that month.

July 1 – Transportation Secretary Ping de Jesus resigned over disagreements with President Aquino over the handling of a case involving an attached agency’s head. Aquino’s losing running mate Mar Roxas assumed the post, and was later replaced by another party mate, former Cavite congressman Joseph Abaya, when Roxas was transferred to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

August 3 – Senator Miguel Zubiri resigned over allegations that he benefitted from wholesale cheating carried out by his party in the 2007 polls.

August 31 – Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim resigned, citing “personal reasons.”

September 16 – Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez resigned amid talks of the President wanting to appoint losing senatorial candidate Rufino Biazon to the commission.

February 3 – Solicitor General Jose Anselmo “Joel” Cadiz resigned, saying he wants to return to private practice. Lawyer Francis Jardeleza replaced him.

March 14 – Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Supervising Undersecretary Graciano Yumul Jr resigned.

May 12 – National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Cayetano Paderanga Jr resigned, citing health reasons. Professor Arsenio Balisacan replaced him.

September 7 – Undersecretary for Peace and Order Rico Puno resigned, saying he wanted “to support the President’s decision to give a free hand to the incoming [DILG] Secretary [Roxas] in forming a new team.”

October 11 – Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Jose Gutierrez Jr. resigned. He was replaced by retired police general Arturo Cacdac Jr.

December 21 – After his 4-month leave following the Rolito Go abduction, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gaudencio Pangilinan resigned.

January 14 – Eduardo Banzon, president and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., resigned due to personal reasons. He was replaced by former Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla.

February 1 – Retired Army general Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), resigned to take care of his ailing wife. Retired general Eduardo del Rosario takes over the position.

June 5 – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile resigned on the second to the last day of the 15th Congress, and laments how his critics in the minority used the Senate fund controversy to destroy his name and derail the senatorial candidacy of his son.

June 19 – PAGASA chief Nathaniel Servando resigned. Reports say he landed a lucrative teaching job in Qatar.

July 12 – Bureau of Immigration chief Ricardo David Jr resigned after various officials complained about his lackluster performance in the agency.

July 22 – Customs chief Rozzano Rufino Biazon and deputy commissioner Danilo Lim resigned after President Benigno Aquino III slammed the customs bureau for incompetence and corruption in his 4th State of the Nation Address. Aquino declined to accept Biazon’s resignation, but lets go of Lim.

July 24 – Customs deputy commissioner Juan Lorenzo Tañada offered his courtesy resignation, which Aquino declined.

August 2Pagasa forecaster Ricky Fabregas resigned for a job in the Republic of Congo in Africa.

September 2 – NBI director Nonnatus Rojas resigned in connection with alleged leaks in the agency on the Janet Lim-Napoles case.

November 30 – Local Water Utilities Administration acting chairman Rene Villa resigned, saying it was a personal decision. His resignation came after he was named as among those present in events organized by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

December 2 – Customs chief Rufino Biazon announced his “irrevocable resignation” 3 days after he is implicated in the pork barrel scam. Biazon said his resignation is not an admission of guilt, but a way to prevent attacks on the Aquino administration. He was replaced by Finance undersecretary John “Sunny” Sevilla.

December 10 – Presidential Communications and Strategic Planning secretary Ricky Carandang resigned. He has returned to the private sector.

December 25 – Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla offered to resign after falling short of his promise to energize all Yolanda-hit towns by Christmas eve. But Aquino declined the resignation, citing Petilla’s “excellent” performance after the disaster.

January 16 – Visiting Forces Agreement Commission executive director Edilberto Adan resigned for unknown reasons, but a source said he was offered a high-paying job in the private sector. Former Armed Forces chief retired general Eduardo Oban replaced him.

April 29 – National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Eduardo Del Rosario resigned due to health reasons. Rosario previously offered to resign in January after allegations of “underreporting” the Yolanda death count.

May 9 – Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chair Margarita Juico resigned. Sources said Juico quit for several reasons, among them the reported claims of a defeated Liberal Party bet that the position has been promised to him.

July 11 – The president announced that he declined the resignation of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad over the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

December 19 –  Health Secretary Enrique Ona resigned after his name was dragged in the questionable purchase of expensive vaccine. He was initially told by Aquino to take time off to prepare his answers to questions on the issue.

December 23 – Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo “Ping” Lacson meet with the president to discuss his departure from post-Yolanda reconstruction duties in February 2015. He claimed that his office has already served its purpose.

February 5 – The president announced the resignation of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima almost 2 weeks after the tragic Maguindanao encounter that killed 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF). Earlier, he was suspended on December 4, 2014 over graft charges.


–with research by Ennah Tolentino/Rappler.com

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