The True Degree of Separation Between Christopher Pastrana and Atty. Vic Rodriguez

It has always been tradition in the Philippines that whenever a new administration enters, a honeymoon period is given or a enough time to show support and trust.

But, even tradition has to give way to the dangerous tactic of some leaders and this exactly describes incoming secretary Atty. Vic Rodriguez. Recently, he announced the appointment of Christopher Pastrana as the General Manager of Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

The said appointment came as a surprise yo two other members of the screening committee, Naida Angping and Anton Lagdameo.

What surprised many was the timing of the announcement which coincides with the appointment of former PAL president Jimmy Bautista as DOTR secretary.

PPA is DOTR’s attached agency which should have been examined prior by Bautista. Consultations should have been made before the change of leadership as common courtesy.

This is the opposite of the courtesy that was shown to incoming finance secretary Benjamin Diokno, who was made aware of the appointments of the BSP, BIR, and BOC heads prior.

In the case of PPA, if we are to delve deeper, we will discover who Pastrana truly is as well as his business partner.

Christopher Pastrana is the president of 2 companies — Archipelago Philippines Ferries Corporation (APFC) and Philippine Archipelago Ports (PAP) and terminal services. APFC owns FastCat Ferries while PAP operates the port terminals

These are enough reasons to disqualify  Pastrana to lead PPA or other agencies that are considered conflicts of interest because of his business.

But, it seems that Executive Secretary Rodriguez must have not noticed this. Coincidentally, Pastrana’s business partner Dennis Trajano’s wife is the sister Executive Secretary Rodriguez’s wife.

Not only that, the in-law of Pastrana who is Rommel Ibuna is a port operator who clearly has a conflict of interest.

This turn of events might depreciate the image of the new administration even though it has just begun.