Marcos accepts resignation of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has accepted the resignations of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro announced.
"Both officials respectfully offered and tendered their resignations out of delicadeza after their departments were mentioned in allegations related to the flood control anomaly currently under investigation and in recognition of the responsibility to allow the administration to address the matter appropriately," she said in a press briefing on Nov. 17.
In their place, Marcos appointed Finance Sec. Ralph Recto as the new ES and DBM. Usec. Rolando Toleda as the OIC of the department.
Meanwhile, former Special Assistant to the President (SAP) for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go will replace Recto as Department of Finance Secretary. The SAP position will remain vacant.
Recto is Marcos' third ES after Vic Rodriguez, who served for three months, and Bersamin, who held the position for three years.
On the other hand, Pangandaman was the DBM secretary since the president took office in 2022.
Ex-Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co implicated Marcos and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, in the flood control mess on Nov. 14. He posted on Facebook a list of projects that the president allegedly ordered to be inserted in the 2025 budgets.
Co said that it all started in 2024 when Pangandaman called him at the start of the Bicameral process with instructions to insert P100 billion worth of projects.
In the former congressman's allegations, Bersamin's relative, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Usec. Adrian Bersamin was also implicated.
Meanwhile, Bersamin was tagged in the flood control controversy by former Department of Public Works and Highways Usec. Roberto Bernardo in a September Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.
Bernardo said Department of Education Usec. Trygve Olaivar met with him to discuss unprogrammed allocations supposedly for the office of the Executive Secretary. Bersamin denied the accusations.
Marcos has dismissed Co's allegations against him and said he did not want to "dignify" the latter's pronouncements.