MARCH 10, 2016

NR # 4135

Speaker Belmonte proposes submission of accomplishment report

by Cabinet Secretaries for past 6 years
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. today proposed the submission by all Cabinet Secretaries of a brief
report on their respective accomplishments and challenges hurdled while in office during the past six years.
The Speaker said the brief report would not only be a record of the Cabinet officials achievements but
also be a good source of information for the people and serve as guideline for the officials successors.
The brief report should also identify problems faced by these Cabinet officials and their departments
in implementing plans and programs, as well as recommendations on how these difficulties could be avoided
in the future, according to the Speaker.
So Im calling on all department Secretaries to make a report of their six years of tenure as heads of
their respective department. They can attune it to the President if they want to, but what we want is something
that will be useful for the future, for everybody, and for their successors. It is their own viewpoint and their
own estimation of the challenges they faced and the accomplishments they made, the Speaker added.
The Speaker noted that some Cabinet members only get their record of achievements and programs
mentioned in the Presidents State of the Nation (SONA) for maybe two paragraphs. But with their own
report, they can properly highlight their key accomplishments as well as all the challenges they had faced,
according to the Speaker.
These highlights will serve as our own record of what happened in the past six years. The Cabinet
secretaries will write these highlights not from the point of view of the President but from their own points of
view, and I think it will be very helpful to everybody, Belmonte said.
The Speaker raised the proposal about the report submission by Cabinet Secretaries as he noted that
this Aquino administration is very unusual in the sense that virtually all its Cabinet members, with the
exception of one or two, have occupied their positions for the entire length of the chief executives
administration.
Therefore, they have a track record that they can be proud of. So, instead of the President making an
annual report, I suggest that each Secretary, now that he still has a few months in office, review his
performance over the last six years and come out with a relatively comprehensive, though not bulky report, on
the accomplishments of his department, what changes for the better were they able to do, problems that were
encountered and also suggestions for the future. I think it will be a good thing, Belmonte said.
Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Speakers proposal was practicable and
workable. I think thats a good idea because you could condense that by taking from the annual reports
submitted to the President on your accomplishments. Take the highlights, condense them, then consolidate
them, said Del Rosario, during his recent farewell courtesy visit on the Speaker.
The Speaker initially raised his proposal about the Cabinet Secretaries accomplishment report during
the visit wherein Del Rosario thanked the House of Representatives for all the support and assistance it
extended to him during his DFA stint. (30) rbb