Vice President Leni Robredo won as the top choice of netizens to lead the Department of Social Welfare and Development next to erstwhile Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, in a Twitter poll conducted by Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson.
Malacañang, however, said that it would be difficult to have Robredo once again in the President’s official family since leaving her post early in the administration’s first year.
In a poll posted at Uson’s Twitter account Robredo maintained a strong lead with 82 percent of votes, followed by Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Lorraine Badoy at six percent and Nikki Prieto-Teodoro, wife of former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, at 2 percent.
Those undecided or expressed a different pick is at 10 percent.
Sought for comment, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that the President “has other ways of measuring a candidate’s capability aside from surveys” to consider his next pick as DSWD chief.
Abella likewise noted that there might be “conditionalities” that may not be too favorable if Duterte would choose Robredo to succeed Taguiwalo.
“For the plain and simple reason that for example, she has already resigned from the—you know, she’s—that particular job is a Cabinet level job,” he said.
Last December 2017, Robredo resigned as Housing secretary after she was instructed by Abella to stop attending Cabinet meetings.
The powerful Commission on Appointments had recently rejected Taguiwalo’s confirmation as Social Welfare secretary.
In an interview, Taguiwalo said she would have appreciated a clear explanation from members of the Commission on Appointments who rejected her nomination.
Abella, however, expressed confidence that during Taguiwalo's stint as Social Welfare chief, she enjoyed Duterte's “full trust and support,” even when she sided with leftist groups opposing the President's position.
“We wish Secretary Taguiwalo all the best in her future endeavors. She knows she will always have the President's gratitude and friendship for the time of a brief that they spent together in the service of our people,” Abella said.
“I don't know if that’s possible [that Taguiwalo may be reappointed in other government offices]. I don’t know if that’s a precedent for that but I would not be surprised. I mean, I don’t think it’s entirely unthinkable,” he added.
Also on Friday, the Presidential Communications Operations Office once again became the object of ridicule when it tweeted the word “fafda”—a nonexistent word in both the Filipino and English languages—which was immediately deleted within 7 minutes after posting.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar admitted that the tweet was made by a staffer within his own office, and that he already wrote a memo to all of their social media administrators.
“I immediately wrote a memo to all of our social media admins to be more careful,” Andanar said.
‘Fafda’ became a trending topic in Philippine trending topics over Twitter, as netizens tried to give meaning to the new presidential typo.
Some netizens drew comparisons with Donald Trump’s presidential typo “covfefe,” a clause with no context that also took social media by storm.
