3 new posts in Office of the President

President Arroyo created yesterday the Office of Political Affairs (OPA) to be headed by a Cabinet-ranked presidential adviser and two sub-offices led by executive directors.

The OPA, under the Office of the President, was created by virtue of Executive Order 344 dated Aug. 9, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR yesterday.

The President, however, has not named who will head this new office.

EO 344 also created the Office of Political Coalition Affairs (OPCA) and the Office for Constituency Affairs (OCA) which would have their respective executive editors and were placed under the "oversight" functions of the OPA.

In creating the OPA, the President cited in EO 344 that "the task of enacting legislation as well as coordinating political support for the government’s national agenda for growth, stability and good governance involves coordination not only between the legislative and executive branches of government, but also between the government and the various political parties."

Coordination between "the government and various basic sectors of society and other relevant constituencies" is also part of OPA’s task, the President said.

The Chief Executive invoked her "continuing authority" to reorganize the administrative structure in her office in creating the three new posts under the Office of the President.

She tasked the presidential adviser to head the OPA "to coordinate the legislative and political coalition liaising and constituency building efforts" of the Office of the President.

EO 344 did not state what will happen to the existing Office of the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs (OPAPA) and the Presidential Liaison Office on Political Affairs (PLOPA).

The OPAPA is headed by Joey Rufino while the PLOPA was previously headed by Hernani Braganza, who resigned last January to run for mayor in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

EO 344 provided though that the existing Political Affairs Office in the Office of the President "is hereby merged with the OPCA and shall be re-engineered" in accordance with the new organizational structure. It was not clear whether this body refers to the same OPAPA.

Reached by The STAR yesterday, Rufino said the President has not talked to him about the creation of the new Office of Political Affairs when they spoke last week.

"I just knew about it. We have discussed it briefly with her but as far as we’re concerned, we’re not affected by that EO because it did not mention our office," Rufino said. "So, we’re staying put in the meantime unless otherwise told to move out."

"We’re still around and intact. But I cannot guess nor speculate what will happen to us," he said.

It will be recalled that Rufino was the last to know when his office was split into two after Braganza was transferred to PLOPA following his resignation as press secretary.

As far as he knew, Rufino said PLOPA under Braganza no longer exists.

As specifically provided for in EO 344, the OPA shall have "oversight over the following offices — without diminution of their respective powers and functions" — namely the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), the OPCA and OCA.

The PLLO is headed by Secretary Gabriel Claudio, who went on official leave of absence when he was campaign manager for Mrs. Arroyo’s Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan during the 90-day campaign period for the May 10 elections.

EO 344 provided that the existing legislative secretariat in the Office of the President shall be abolished and its functions, duties and responsibilities transferred to the PLLO while its personnel and budget will be retained in the Office of the President.

The funds to support the operations of the OPA, OPCA and the OCA shall be sourced from the existing budget of the Office of the President.

It is not clear in EO 344 whether the OCA executive director post is the one that newly appointed presidential adviser for constituency affairs Edgardo Pamintuan will lead.

Pamintuan, former head of the National Housing Authority, was among the new presidential advisers that Mrs. Arroyo appointed last week along with the first batch of her new Cabinet team.