Palace: Former DOF official not supportive of administration

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 8) — Former Finance Undersecretary Cielo Magno was terminated as she was unsupportive of the Marcos administration, Malacañang said Friday.

“The termination of her appointment could only be expected as she clearly does not support the administration and its programs for nation building,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement. “While we support anyone’s right to free speech, it would be counter intuitive to have someone be part of the administration who was clearly set on maligning it to begin with.”

Bersamin also noted that Magno made the public know that she has been against the policies of the administration even before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office.

“Instead of working together with colleagues in the government to address any concerns, they were instead constantly done so through public fora,” he added.

Magno on Thursday announced that she resigned from her post supposedly over her position on economic policies that ran counter to the administration. Asked if the order came from the Palace, she said “No direct request re: my post.”

In a Facebook post on Friday, Magno shared a Sept. 4 document from Malacañang stating that her tenure as finance undersecretary has “expired” that takes effect immediately.

She said she only received the document Friday morning.

“Makakatulog po ako ng mahimbing (I’ll be able to sleep well) knowing that I did my best serving our country and advocating the interest of our people,” she said in the caption.

Earlier reports said Magno was forced to quit following her stance against the Marcos administration’s implementation of a price ceiling on rice.

On Sept. 1, Magno shared on Facebook a graph showing the law of supply and demand with the caption “I miss teaching.” The setting of a rice price cap was announced on the same day.

The former government official said she would be teaching at the University of the Philippines School of Economics following her resignation.