MALACANANG is expected to announce the new additions to the Cabinet Wednesday, the official start of the lifting of the ban on the appointment to government positions of persons who ran but lost in the May 10, 2010 elections.

The Palace  earlier confirmed the choice of former Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, a close ally of President Benigno Aquino III, to replace acting Secretary Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a move strongly opposed by an anti-corruption group headed by a Catholic priest and an anti-crime crusader. The President is reportedly eyeing a chairmanship for Paje in a government-owned corporation.

Acosta, a former congressman from the first district of Bukidnon, who ran but lost under the Liberal Party in the 2010 senatorial race, is believed to be a member of the President’s  so-called “inner circle.”

In a letter to President Aquino dated May 7, 2011, the Bukidnon  Crusade Against Crime and Corruption (BCACC), headed by Fr. Venancio Balansag of the Bishop’s House in Malaybalay town and Felix Vergara of the municipality of Maramag, said Acosta’s looming appointment to the top DENR post runs counter to administration’s “Tuwid na Daan” policy.

The petitioners said Acosta “cannot make the DENR corruption-free” because he himself is facing several counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan.    Raul S. Beltran