Aquino administration re-discovering the straight road?

Aquino rediscovering the
true and straight road?

President Aquino just sold his Porsche for 4.6 million pesos. That car has been with him for only a few months but probably due to "pressure" (some say from his sisters), Noynoy was convinced to part with it. 


When I heard that he did this, I sighed and cried. Is this the start of a new beginning for this administration? I hope so.


I really hope that Aquino will now face these challenges with a broader than usual perspective and a strong political will. 


I really hope that Aquino continues to open his ears to suggestions and critiques (not criticisms) since these are being done for his benefit. 


If Pnoy was able to part with his precious dream car, will he also have the gall to part with his "shooting buddies" and erring classmates who put him under very humiliating circumstances in the past?


I am referring to Margie Juico, who continues to say that there are anomalies in the PCSO without legally substantiating them. Juico, I think, is a Trojan Horse. The entire deck of cards against the former regime would fall by the second, the public discovers that these PCSO board allegations are all PR stunts. 


Based on a review of the PCSO charter, there is nothing legally infirm about donations given to the Church. The Supreme Court already clarified and classified the term donations given by the PCSO to church and religious affiliations. 


Fact is, Juico even admitted that they are very worried about this since this allegation against the Church is largely unfounded and has no basis in law. Again, a review of the PCSO charter will show that no irregularity in giving donations to churches and religious groups. 


Nothing wrong again with giving donations to local government units, this has been admitted again by Juico in her interview with Ted Failon yesterday. Failon commented the piece meal thing the PCSO is doing, even alleging that the PCSO is conducting a PR campaign instead of really showing a very tight legal case.


Morato etal should file libel cases against Juico since Juico is churning up allegations against allegations without legal basis. Juico is liable for libel.


Aquino should fire Juico and the entire PCSO board for murking up these cases against Arroyo. 


This goes to Virgie Torres, who was investigated for alleged complicity in the stradcom ownership dispute. Same goes to shooting buddy Undersecretary Puno who remains at the DILG but without any legitimate function. We are paying for the salary of someone who's useless.


Other Cabinet members fit for retirement are Customs chief Angelito Alvarez and other members of GOCCs particularly of RPN 9.

Virgie Torres Challenge: Find fault and I'll resign

Embattled Land Transportation Office (LTO) head Virgie Torres issued a fresh challenge to her detractors: find just one wrongdoing on my part and I will tender my resignation before the President. She issued the challenge a day before she assumes office once again at the LTO.

If you remember, Torres was recommended suspended administratively after being caught supporting the Sumbilla group of LTO. Sumbilla is currently fighting Cesar Quiambao for leadership at the STRADCOM, the I.T. provider of LTO. This leadership struggle has affected LTO operations.

The law states that heads quasi-judicial bodies such as the LTO shall maintain a status of an impartial judge. By siding with Sumbilla, Torres violated the law. She should not interfere with an internal corporate dispute. 

This is just one of the things that Pnoy should consider in definitely deciding the fate of this woman.

The Presidency should be judged morally

During a dinner last night which I attended, Alex Lacson urged people to judge President Benigno Aquino III on two things: First, he not using public funds for his own personal use and two, he is not abusing his powers. Let's discuss.


On the first take, we really don't know if President Aquino is not using public funds for his personal use. Billions of pesos were allotted as Aquino's intelligence funds, and these are mostly unaccounted. Besides, no one really knows since his term has not finished yet. There is no group that monitors Aquino's spending of the money entrusted to him.


I urged citizen's groups and cause-oriented groups to monitor Aquino's public spending habits. It is too early for anyone to say that he's not toying with public funds.


On the second condition, well, there is evidence that he already abused the powers entrusted to him by the People.


Look, he ignored the findings of the Independent Commission set up to investigate the Rizal hostage crisis. That Commission recommended the filing of administrative charges against his firing buddy, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno. Aquino did not sign that off. That is a clear abuse of his powers.


There was a recommendation which came from former DOTC Secretary Ping de Jesus recommending that sanctions be imposed against LTO head Virgie Torres. What happened? Torres is expected to regain her post this June 19. Again, Aquino abused his powers.


Seems like Aquino is encouraging the spread of cronyism, a bad sign.


Why protect the likes of Puno and Torres? Likewise, why retain men such as Customs head Lito Alvarez and PCSO head Margie Juico, two officials embroiled in numerous graft cases? They should be fired. 


It is not too late for the President to do the right thing.

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.