By Rose de la Cruz
Regarded as the Cabinet’s weak link because of his department’s lackluster performance, his tardiness in meetings (here and abroad) and his laziness, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual is said to be on his way out and would soon be replaced by economic czar– the President’s first choice for the post– Frederick Go, Palace insiders intoned to business blog site, Bilyonaryo.
Citing multiple ‘babblers’ the report said Pascual’s getting the ax is due to his subpar performance and his failure to connect with consumers amid bursting inflation, making him ineffective. A former president of the state university, Pascual is said to belong to the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity, the brotherhood of the President’s late father.
“The sources suggest that the President is now leaning towards his original choice for the DTI post, Go, who currently holds a Cabinet secretary rank as head of the newly- created Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs. If Go agrees, he would hold DTI in concurrent capacity as economic czar,” the report stated.
The report said amid talks of his firing, Pascual is said to have been going around the business community trying to elicit a statement of support for his continued stay.
In July last year, Pascual was said to have bragged about having traveled more while he was at the Asian Development Bank than in his 14 trips during his first year in the DTI. For this globetrotting habit, Pascual faced strong and increasing criticism because of the lackluster performance of his department (from all his absences), for which he got branded as the Cabinet’s weak link.
“Mahina talaga ‘yan. He’s known to be super bagal and lazy pa. But the frequent travel makes him worse as he’s always out of the country,” Bilyonaryo quoted a Palace babbler.
“Imagine this: 14 foreign trips in less than a year – all on the government’s account. Pascual has indulged in his travel fetish, including a recent lengthy European investment roadshow spanning the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany from June 21 to July 6,” the babbler recounted.
Despite the public’s growing resentment towards his jet-setting ways, Pascual appears oblivious to the criticism he’s receiving.
During a Makati Business Club forum on July 13, 2023 host Coco Alcuaz confronted Secretary Pascual about the extent of his travels, to which he replied nonchalantly, “I lost track. Maybe 14 trips. Not always with the president.” This revelation has only fueled the public’s concern over the government official’s travel priorities.
Even more intriguing was Pascual’s reply to a follow-up question from Alcuaz: “So please don’t surprise me and say this hasn’t been the most hectic travel you’ve had in your life,” to which the 75-year old Pascual retorted: “Not really. When I was in ADB (where he worked for 19 years before serving the UP Diliman Board of Regents)), I used to travel 20 times a year. I have not reached that number this year. Not yet.”
Critics have not only labeled him lackluster and chronically absent but also accused him of being insensitive to the public’s growing concerns about his extravagant globetrotting. He boasted of owing his appointment to his close ties to a powerful faction in the Marcos administration (implying the Upsilon brotherhood) the same connection that made him breeze through the Commission on Appointments in February, 2023 after being bypassed twice.
Pascual is also getting a bad image for his aversion to making rounds of public markets to check on prices of basic goods, as part of his job. His rare trip to a public market showed him garbed in corporate gear (naka chaleko para raw masa, retorted a babbler)..