Sarmiento accepts appointment as DILG chief

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento on Tuesday accepted his appointment as Interior Secretary by President Benigno Aquino III and expressed confidence he can fill the shoes left behind by outgoing Secretary Mar Roxas.

In a statement, Sarmiento said he is ready to “accept any challenge” that will enable the continuation of good governance and the Aquino administration’s “Daang Matuwid.”

“I thank President PNoy for giving me this opportunity to continue the reforms being implemented now in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), many of which were among those that we usually talked about with the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo when we were still city mayors,” he said.

Earlier in the day at the Inquirer Group's multimedia forum, Aquino said he has chosen Sarmiento to replace Roxas as DILG chief.

Sarmiento, a three-term mayor of Calbayog City prior to his election to Congress, vowed to continue the fight against corruption and the modernization of several agencies under the DILG’s purview, including the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

Sarmiento, who is also the Secretary General of the Liberal Party, pledged that the PNP will remain politically neutral in the 2016 elections.

“We will continue to uphold the high standards of the institution in public service and guarantee that the national police and the entire uniformed service under the DILG will be neutral in ensuring a peaceful, honest and orderly election in 2016,” he said.

Sarmiento said he is optimistic of his ability to lead the DILG even as he admitted that overseeing the entire agency will be a “colossal task.”

“Replacing Secretary Mar Roxas to head a very complex institution like the Department of the Interior and Local Government is definitely a colossal task but with our people's prayers and support, I am confident I would be able to effectively carry out the mandate of my new assignment,” he said.

In a separate statement, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Sarmiento’s appointment as Interior Secretary was “well deserved.”

“I have no doubt that Mel is well qualified and up to the task of DILG head. We wish Mel more power in his new role of service to our people,” he said. — BM, GMA News