DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno expressed deep sadness over the passing away of his friend, Press Sec. Cerge Remonde whom he called a versatile and hardworking public official.

“My family and I extend our deepest condolences to the family of Secretary Remonde. I lost both a friend and an esteemed colleague,” Puno said. “We were all shocked by his sudden passing and we will miss him greatly.”

Puno said Remonde was a multitalented public official having held various posts in government prior to his post as Press Secretary in the Arroyo administration.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno did a good job in restoring normalcy in the province of Maguindanao and the ARMM as he went personally to the troubled province even before the martial law was declared appointing new officials to the province and ARMM that the arrested Ampatuans left vacant.

Ronnie Puno’s vast experience as the Interior Secretary made the job very easy for him, proposing changes in the local government setup.

One of his proposal is to deprive mayors and governors of the right to choose their police chiefs and just have Camp Crame assign officers to towns, cities and provinces without consulting local officials.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno that he wants the commision formed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to review Executive Order 546, which authorizes the creation of private armed groups such as Civilian Volunteer Organizations or CVOs and Special Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary (SCAAs).

Puno said that these groups often end up as private armies of some politicians. He also added that the government has already taken steps to control private armies such as the proclamation of a firearms amnesty and limiting the bodyguards of politicians to 2 uniformed personnel.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave full supervision of Maguindanao to DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno while martial law is in effect.

Sec. Ronnie Puno clarified in a radio interview that local government units would still have to be led by elected local officials, not “military mayors.”

“We will abide by the rule on succession. If the mayor is not available, the vice-mayor [will take charge] and then down the line,” he said.

Martial Law has been declared in the province of Maguindanao today, suspendeding the writ of habeas corpus in the province except “for certain areas,” enabling the military to make arrests without court intervention.

DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno ordered the creation of a task force to ssist him in exercising his powers of general supervision over the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which includes the conduct of financial reviews and making sure that the functions of the local chief executives in the area are performed in accordance with the law.

Sec. Ronnie Puno also ordered ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan to submit copies of the reports he had submitted to the Office of the President regarding the use of funds and financial assistance released to the region from the fourth quarter of 2008 up to the present.

DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno said Thursday the government has quietly taken an array of forceful measures meant to bring to justice all those responsible for the massacre of at least 57 people in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao and at the same time restore peace and order in the province.

Puno said that hours after the heinous crime was uncovered last Monday, the government had immediately created a crisis management committee led by Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza—on top of the local crisis management panel formed to investigate the incident—to take measures that led, among others, to Thursday morning’s surrender of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay in Maguindanao, to Dureza at the provincial capitol.

The Department of Interior and Local Government urged local government units to include children’s rights as a priority item in their Comprehensive Development Plan.

In a memorandum released by DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno, he said that LGU’s must protect the right of every Filipino child, including the right of survival, development, protection and participation. He also added that the children holds the key to a continued development and growth of the country.

DILG has helped out Local Government Units in 24,093 barangays, 54 provinces, 101 cities and 963 municipalities across the country with its Children Protection Program.

Former Optimical Media Board (OMB) chairman Edu Manzano is now the running mate of presidential aspirant and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro as announced earlier in Shangri_la, Makati and both of them cited Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno in merging the major tandem.

“When I talked to Edu, walang conditions siyang binigay and he said I’m willing to support you all the way, 100 percent,” Teodoro said. “Ang loyalty na ganyan ang katangian ng isang mabuting Pilipino. Ako po ay tuwang tuwa at nagagalak na tinanggap ng ating katambalan ang aking alok sa pamamagitan ni Secretary Puno na maging kandidato sa pagka-bise presidente ng aming partido.”

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie V. Puno made an announcement yesterday about the creation of Coordinating Committee on Decentralization (CCD) – a committee that will handle problems and issues concerning the implementation of the government’s decentralization program.

“Decentralization is a key to national and local government development,” Puno said.

The creation of the CCD came after officials and representatives of the participating agencies initialed the final draft of the committee’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in simple ceremony held yesterday at Shangrilla Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday rejected outright a request by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to send a company-size delegation of its members to communicate with the kidnappers of Irish priest Michael Sinnott, saying that the need to send such a large contingent to simply relay a message indicates that they have no control over this group behind the kidnapping.

The secretary said he has relayed his opposition to this proposal to the government’s peace panel headed by Ambassador Rafael Seguis that is in talks with the MILF.