Since the appointment ban on defeated 2025 candidates lapsed on May 13, among those rumored to be on his way to a Cabinet comeback is Benhur Abalos, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first interior secretary, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate last year.

Marcos appeared to have put the matter to rest during a Thursday, June 18 media interview in Kazan, Russia, after his participation in the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit. 

When asked about persistent speculation that Abalos would rejoin the government, Marcos said: “Okay, I’ll be very candid; I’ll be very frank with you. Of course, I want Benhur to play a more active role in government. Of course, he has been there and he has been helping us in many ways, informally, privately. I wouldn’t mind finding a way for him to help us in an official capacity.”

Abalos resigned as Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) chief in October 2024 to run for senator under the administration ticket but lost, finishing in 16th place. He was also Marcos’ national campaign manager in the 2022 presidential elections, which prompted him to resign as Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief during the last few months of the Duterte administration.

The President said that even if Abalos were to rejoin his government, there would be no changes in his current Cabinet roster.

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“Just because we want him to join, to become a more active, to play a more active part in government, doesn’t… necessarily mean that somebody else has to be [removed]. It’s not a zero-sum thing in the Cabinet that you have to remove somebody to gain somebody else,” he said.

“And you know, I think we have a really good group of people in the Cabinet right now. And we are working well together…. Why does this subject keep coming up?” he added.

Marcos was visibly irritated when asked about a rumored “Cabinet reshuffle,” frowning as soon as he heard the phrase. “Yeah, you keep talking about that. I don’t know why.”

When asked about reports that former Department of Health OIC Maria Rosario Vergeire would replace Health Secretary Ted Herbosa, Marcos said he heard about this only from the media.

On rumors that Abalos would either go to the Department of Justice or return to the DILG, Marcos said “moving people around” for the sole purpose of accommodating other appointees was “counterproductive.”

“What you are trying to promote in government is stability and the steadiness of work…. That’s an important part of governance. If you keep moving people around, they have to start learning their job again…. We just don’t have time for that,” he said.

Marcos said “the people who are sitting in their particular capacities, be it Cabinet, be it… some other agency, are, as far as I’m concerned, are doing the job that they are asked to do and have gained already the experience that they have learned lessons from.”

“And to just keep moving people around for no really good reason — it makes no sense to me,” he added.

In late May, Marcos said he had no plan to sack DILG chief Jonvic Remulla, amid speculation that the Cabinet official is on the way out. – Rappler.com