Walang Corrupt DAW: Former PSE Chair says NEDA appointee Paderanga UNFIT for post

(Reposted note from Lamang Lupa.  This may become a reason why 'Walang mahirap kung walang corrupt' will be revealed as mere sloganeering. If it's all the same to you, Let's just bring back Romulo Neri.)

Stockbroker Vivian Yuchengco, former chairman of the Philippine Stock Exchange, has joined the opposition to the appointment of Cayetano Paderanga Jr as economic planning secretary and NEDA secretary-general. She disclosed over the weekend that Paderanga had also been dismissed as president of the PSE.

Yuchengco said that Paderanga served the PSE for only six months in 2004, the shortest stint in its history. “He never came to work; so we forced him to resign,” she said.

Upon investigation, the PSE discovered that Paderanga was holding three jobs simultaneously: president and CEO of the PNOC Management Development Corp., president of CIBI Information Inc., and president of the PSE.

Paderanga’s appointment was earlier questioned by former foreign secretary and former CIBI chairman Roberto Romulo. He disclosed that the appointee was asked to resign by the CIBI board for failing, among other transgressions, to pay tax liabilities and employees’ withholding taxes to the BIR during his watch. “This caused our company millions; the violation is a penal offense,” he revealed.

Romulo said he was making the disclosure as a matter of public interest. “His poor record in the private sector renders him unfit for the highly sensitive post at NEDA,” he said.

In addition to the two dismissals by private companies, a former top official of the BSCP and Monetary Board is also questioning the Paderanga appointment, according to Manila Standard columnist Vic Agustin. He disclosed that Paderanga’s stint in the MB was marred by improper use of confidential data of the monetary authorities.

Critics of the Paderanga appointment said that their opposition stems from the important role of NEDA in our economic affairs. “It was precisely because of Romulo Neri’s leadership of NEDA that he got embroiled in the ZTE scandal,” they said. “The post figures prominently in major projects of the government.” #