“It’s an appointive position,” Land and Natural Resources Secretary Ignacio Dela Cruz said yesterday. “I have the prerogative to retain or replace him.”
Dela Cruz said Mr. Hofschneider has held different DLNR post since 2004.
Variety was unable to get a comment from Hofschneider, the brother of the Republican Party’s gubernatorial candidate.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr., for his part, declined to discuss the details of Hofschneider’s contract termination .
“We’re respecting the privacy of the employee’s personal information,” he said.
DLNR personnel held a send-off gathering for Hofschneider on Friday.
Dela Cruz said his department is implementing “a lot of cost-cutting measures…. His [Hofschneider] contract was up for renewal and his contract was not renewed.”
“I’m responsible for the department, and that’s my call, my decision,” he added.
He said Hofschneider “was doing okay” in the department.
But “nobody is indispensible and it’s an appointive position…we can hire anybody that we think who can do better,” the DLNR chief said.
The department, he added, is now looking for Hofschneider’s replacement.
“There are many employees out there. We are promoting gender equality,” Dela Cruz said. “We don’t want to create a vacuum in the delivery of public service.”
