Aquino, Under Fire, Ousts 2 Building Officials

MANILA — Philippine President Corazon Aquino, whose cash-strapped government has been criticized for failing to use more than $1 billion in foreign aid because of bureaucratic logjams, on Saturday fired her public works secretary and his deputy.

The government released a letter from Aquino accepting with “regret” the resignations of Juanito Ferrer, secretary of public works and highways, and Undersecretary Teodoro Gener.

Named to replace Ferrer, 66, was Fiorello Estuar, the American-educated presidential adviser on public resource utilization who also administers the U.S.-supplied Economic Support Fund for the Philippines.

Official sources said the Aquino government has failed to utilize some $1 billion to $2 billion in development aid from donor countries because of problems in preparation and implementation of projects and inability to put up matching funds.

Estuar, 52, has confirmed that $875 million in foreign aid had been unused. This excludes amounts pledged by donor countries, mainly Japan and the United States, for the next two years.

Sources said Estuar’s appointment reflects Aquino’s desire to speed up development projects in the countryside, where her government is fighting a growing Communist insurgency.

Ferrer has told reporters he had been the subject of complaints from local officials over infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, Louie Beltran, a columnist for the Manila Standard newspaper, said Saturday that Aquino is planning a top-to-bottom revamping of her government. He said the reshuffling will be Aquino’s “answer to charges of rampant graft and corruption as well as incompetence of honest but ineffectual officials.”