Government of Alejandro García Padilla

The government of Alejandro García Padilla was formed in the weeks following the 2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election^[5][6] and was sworn in initially in January 2013,^[7] with some confirmations coming in later. It featured a pro-Independence secretary, a non-partisan Secretary of Governance, as well as the continuation of the previous PNP administrations' Commissioner of Safety and Public Protection.

Government of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares
17th Constitutional Government of Puerto Rico
2013-2017
Official portrait of Governor García Padilla (2013-2017).
Date formed	2 January 2013
Date dissolved	2 January 2017
People and organisations
President of the United States of America	Barack H. Obama
Governor	Alejandro García Padilla
Secretary of State	David Bernier Rivera
Total no. of members	15 Secretaries[a] 20 Cabinet Members [b]
Member party	PPD   PIP[c]   Ind.
Status in legislature	Majority party in both chambers Senate 18 / 27 (67%) House of Representatives 28 / 51 (55%)
Opposition party	PNP (largest)   PIP
Opposition leader	Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia (2013-2016) Ricky Rosselló Nevares (2016-2017)
History
Elections	2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election 2012 Puerto Rico Senate election 2012 Puerto Rico House of Representatives election
Outgoing election	2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election
Legislature term	17th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico
Budgets	2013 Puerto Rico Budget 2014 Puerto Rico Budget 2015 Puerto Rico Budget 2016 Puerto Rico Budget
Advice and consent	Senate of Puerto Rico House of Representatives of Puerto Rico [d]
Incoming formation	2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election
Outgoing formation	2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election
Predecessor	Government of Luis Fortuño Burset
Successor	Government of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares

Party breakdown

Party breakdown of 21 cabinet members, not including the governor, but including the Secretary of Governance, from January 2013 to September 2014:

Popular Democratic Party	18
Indendependence Party	1
Independents	2

The cabinet was composed of members of the PPD, a PIP member (in defiance to PIP leadership), and at its height, two concurrent independents or technical positions (or people whose membership in a party was not clearly ascertained from any available media). After the exit of Ingrid Vila Biaggi in September 2014, the PPD gained a seat in the Cabinet at the expense of the independent position she left for Víctor Suárez Meléndez:

Popular Democratic Party	19
Indendependence Party	1
Independents	1

Members of the Cabinet

The Puerto Rican Cabinet is led by the Governor, along with, starting in 1986,^[8][9] the Secretary of Governance. The Cabinet is composed of all members of the Constitutional Council of Secretaries (Article IV, Constitution of Puerto Rico, 1952), who are the heads of the executive departments, along with other Cabinet-level officers who report directly to the Governor of Puerto Rico or to the Secretary of Governance, but who are not heads nor members of an executive office. All the Cabinet-level officers are at the same bureaucratic level as of the Secretaries^[10][11][12]

Office	Name	Party		Term
Governor
Governor of Puerto Rico Gobernación de Puerto Rico	Alejandro García Padilla		PPD	2 January 2013 – 2 January 2017
Office of the Governor
Secretariat of Governance Secretaría de la Gobernación	Ingrid Vila Biaggi[5]		Ind.	2 January 2013 - 19 September 2014
	Víctor Suárez Meléndez[13]		PPD	19 September 2014 – 9 December 2015
	Grace Santana Balado[14]		PPD	9 December 2015 – 1 January 2017
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Directoría de la Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto	Carlos Rivas Quiñones		PPD	15 October 2014 – 2 January 2017
	Luis F. Cruz Batista[15]		PPD	2 January 2013 – 2 January 2014
President of the Puerto Rico Planning Board Presidencia de la Junta de Planificación	Luis García Pelatti[16]		PPD	2 January 2013 – 2 January 2017
President of the Environmental Quality Board Presidencia de la Junta de Calidad Ambiental	Laura Vélez Vélez[17][18]		PPD	2 January 2013 – 1 September 2015
Executive Director for Federal Affairs Administration Directoría Ejecutiva de la Administración de Asuntos Federales	Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral		PPD	2 January 2013 – 2 January 2017
Council of Secretaries
Secretary of State Secretaría de Estado	David Bernier Rivera[5]		PPD	2 January 2013- 30 October 2015
	Víctor Suárez Meléndez[14]		PPD	1 November 2015 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Justice Secretaría de Justicia	Luis Sánchez Betances[19][20]		PPD	2 January 2013 – 31 December 2013
	César R. Miranda Rodríguez[21]		PPD	13 January 2014 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of the Treasury Secretaría de Hacienda	Melba Acosta Febo[22]		PPD	2 January 2013 – 26 October 2014
	Juan C. Zaragoza Gómez[22]		PPD	26 October 2014 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Education Secretaría de Educación	Rafael Román Meléndez[23]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Labor and Human Resources Secretaría del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos	Vance E. Thomas Rider[24][25]		PIP	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Transportation and Public Works Secretaría de Transportación y Obras Públicas	Miguel Torres Díaz[26]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio	Alberto Bacó Bagué[5]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Health Secretaría de Salud	Francisco Joglar Pesquera		PPD	2 January 2013 - 13 September 2013
	Ana Ríus Armendáriz		PPD	16 September 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Agriculture Secretaría de Agricultura	Myrna Comas Pagán[27]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Consumer Affairs Secretaría de Asuntos del Consumidor	Nery Adamés Soto		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretaría de Corrección y Rehabilitación	José Negrón Fernández[28]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Family Affairs Secretaría de la Familia	Idalia Colón Rondón		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Housing Secretaría de Vivienda	Rubén Ríos Pagán[27]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Natural and Environmental Resources Secretaría de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales	Carmen Guerrero Pérez[27]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Secretary of Sports and Recreation Secretaría de Deportes y Recreación	Ramón Orta Rodríguez[29]		PPD	2 January 2013 - 2 January 2017
Other Cabinet-level officers
Commissioner of Safety and Public Protection Comisaría de Seguridad y Protección Pública	Héctor Pesquera[5][30]		Ind.	9 April 2012 - 10 April 2017
President of the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank Presidencia del Banco Gubernamental de Fomento	Javier D. Ferrer Fernández		PPD	2 January 2013 – 13 July 2014
	Melba Acosta Febo		PPD	27 October 2014 - 31 July 2016
	Alberto Bacó Bagué[31]		PPD	31 July 2016 – 2 January 2017

Notes

1. Does not include the Governor or the Secretariat of Governance.
2. Does not include the Governor or the Secretariat of Governance. Includes all other cabinet-level positions.
3. Vance Thomas Rider was a leader of the Independence Party Youth, and a several times candidate for mayoralty for the PIP (1992 for Culebra and 2000 for San Juan), but endorsed Garcia Padilla's bid for governor, despite being from a different party.^[1] The PIP senator, María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón voted against his confirmation as Labor Secretary.^[2] Santiago Negrón implied in an interview that Thomas' relationship with the party was strained.^[3] Vance denied being a "melón", a term meaning a person who advocates publicly for independence and aligns with the PIP, but votes or incites others to vote for the pro-status quo PPD.^[4]
4. The House provides advice and consent for the Secretary of State, as he is first in line in the Puerto Rico governor' order of succession as established in Article IV, Section 5, Constitution of Puerto Rico, 1952