Ochoa: No factions in Noy government

MANILA, Philippines - What faction?

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda along with other Malacañang officials are now singing the same tune – that there are no factions or power struggles in the Aquino administration.

In an interview on Studio 23’s newscast “iBA-BALITA,” Ochoa said there was no such thing as fighting for control at Malacañang.

Ochoa also denied reports that another Cabinet was operating as a shadow of the people officially appointed by the President.

While the factions have reportedly avoided clashes for the sake of President Aquino, sources said those who supported the tandem of Aquino and his running mate, former senator Manuel Roxas II, are known as the Balay Group.

Another group who backed the unlikely tandem of Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay during the elections is known as the Samar Group.

Both groups are working independently from one another, sources said.

The Balay Group went with Mr. Aquino during his US visit last month while the Samar Group appeared with the President during his town hall meeting to report on his first 100 days in office.

Ochoa explained the nomenclature for the two factions apparently stemmed from where the campaign headquarters were located.

He said theirs was located along Samar Avenue and the other in Cubao, both in Quezon City.

Ochoa said he placed the legal team in the Samar headquarters, whose operations became bigger towards the end of the campaign, even as Roxas as president of the Liberal Party used the Balay headquarters.

Lacierda also denied having a rift with Ochoa and Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Julia Abad.

Lacierda said he spoke with Abad to ask about the alleged rift. He said, “There is no such thing.”

“In fact they have been working together… Ochoa gave Julia chocolates,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda denied the rift was delaying the paper work, especially on appointments.

“With respect to the appointments it is in the office of ES (Ochoa). Julia Abad as head of the PMS has nothing to do with the appointments,” he said.

Even as the President enumerated the gains of his administration, the talk about the factions in his Cabinet refused to die down.

Critics said Malacañang could not get its act together because of the factions in the official family.

This has been one of the major issues against the new administration, and also impacted on the bungling of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis.

But Lacierda said they were all working behind the President, as he had always been telling them they were all there to serve the people.

He also said they were happy with the people’s appreciation of what they had done – from stopping the use of sirens and posters with photos of public officials in government projects to stopping corruption – despite criticisms that Mr. Aquino had not yet gotten over campaign mode.

“The fact is (there are just) critics who have nothing to do but criticize even without basis,” Lacierda said.

Karina David, chair of the People Power Volunteers for Reform, also lamented that media are focusing too much on the supposed rift in the Cabinet.

“I think that too much is being made out of this. I have seen these people, who are supposedly fighting with each other, discuss things and work together, and agree,” David said.

“I am not saying that they love each other but there is too much being made out of this (reported rift) and this can aggravate the situation rather than help,” said David, a former chair of the Civil Service Commission.

Lacierda also denied reports of destabilization even as Mr. Aquino warned that there were those who wanted to return to power.

Lacierda added the President did not grab any credit from the previous administration on the Millennium Challenge Corp. and the conditional cash transfers for the poorest of the poor. – With Danny Dangcalan