Paquito Ochoa, Puno and Torres--The President's men under fire

My late grandmother used to say--don't get associated with those who drink and play with guns. I'm sure if former president Cory Aquino is still alive, she will counsel her son, now President Noynoy, to heed my grandmother's advice.


Look, three of Noynoy's closest buddies---Executive secretary Paquito Ochoa, DILG undersecretary Rico Puno and now, his other "firing range" buddy, LTO chief Torres came all under fire for acting and doing things contrary to what their buddy, Noynoy does.


The President works hard to at least follow what he preached. He preached for good governance. Yet, it seemed though that his closest associates probably either think Noynoy's promises are just mere politics or they think lowly of him by not swearing with their lives to follow Noynoy's vow for government officials to follow the "straight path."


Another Pinoy adage comes to mind---your closest friends are your closest enemies. In this case, appointing your closest friends in the Cabinet seems the most stupid decision a president can ever do.


Ochoa has to explain why he just declared 12 million pesos in assets while a mansion constructed in Barangay White Plains shows his wife as the one administering the property while Ochoa's name was simply not among the roster of incorporators of the firm registered as the owner of the property. 


Ochoa must explain to the public what right does his wife has to represent HedgeRow when the Executive Secretary's name is simply not among those who manages the company. Is the wife a buyer of the property? 


Presidential spokesperson Ed Lacierda whom everyone knows as an honest man, was hard-pressed when asked this question. In the usual Lacierda-style, he simply paroted the report by ABS-CBN TV Patrol Lynda Jumilla and declared that the property was not owned by the Executive secretary, period. Yet, Lacierda failed to explain how Ochoa's wife turned out to be the one ministering the property which, under the law, was not theirs in the first place.


Is Ochoa's wife the buyer of the property? In that case, where did Ochoa's wife get the 40 million pesos or so to buy the property considering that her family's income only amounted to a million per year?


Virgie Torres, the firing range buddy of Noynoy, was also caught on camera accompanying Sumbilla, one of those who claims to own Stradcom, the company who snatched the 2.8 billion pesos computerization project of the Land Transportation Office.


The Department of Justice just found out that Torres reportedly colluded with Sumbilla in the intra-corporate dispute with Cesar Quiambao. It seems that the plan was to show to the public that Stradcom had already "changed management" to avoid possible "political prosecution" after being very closely associated with the former dispensation. Some sources say, this "takeover" was just a ruse to show that Quiambao had nothing to do anymore with the company and therefore, could continue doing business with the LTO.


Torres, a long-time insider of the LTO, was appointed LTO chief, despite having been charged with involvement in the processing of the illegal registration papers of a Pajero late 2009. And now, Torres has been exposed as the alleged "backer" of Sumbilla in the controversial Stradcom corporate dispute. 


The DOJ just recommended for the suspension of Torres. Good. 


We have'nt heard much about Puno, who, apparently lost the intra-office power struggle with DILG secretary Jesse Robredo. Robredo, who was reported to have lost the confidence of the President early on in his appointment, suddenly got a shot in the arm, when public opinion shifted to Undersecretary Rico Puno, who brags as the closest associate of the president.


From being the "fair-haired boy" of the president to the "unspoken pariah" in the DILG, Puno suddenly went out of the limelight the same way he got himself in. He was "unofficially" exiled abroad, and nothing was heard from him every since. Puno continues to sit as an undersecretary, yet, nothing is heard about his work or "accomplishments". Does Puno continues to enjoy the confidence of the President?


President Noynoy Aquino should fire these people from his administration. They are making life extremely difficult for him. Likewise, they are tainting the clean reputation of the president who vows to tread the "narrow and straight path."


One EDSA lesson--it is not enough that we elect an honest president when his family and friends are not.