PRESIDENT Aquino has reached out to the camp of incoming President and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to commit to a smooth transition of power come June 30.
Mr. Aquino talked to Duterte’s executive assistant Bong Go to tell him that Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. shall head the Aquino administration’s transition team, which will coordinate with Duterte’s camp on matters relating to the transfer of power.
“I talked to Mr. Bong Go yesterday [Tuesday] to relay to Mayor Duterte that an administrative order is being drafted, designating the executive secretary as head of the transition team. I further offered that the Cabinet stands ready to brief his team on any and all of their concerns. Lastly, we are committed to effecting the smoothest transition possible,” Mr. Aquino said in a news statement released on Wednesday. Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said Duterte will have a free hand in appointing his trusted allies to government positions, as mandated by law, and by Mr. Aquino’s personal dislike for midnight appointments. “In our appointment papers and in our oath of office, there is a stipulation there that we are coterminus with the appointing authority, and we all know that our appointment shall only be until 12 noon of June 30, 2016,” Coloma said.
“Those employees which were appointed by me, they are also coterminus with me and the appointments have the same expiry date, so the incoming administration will have a free hand in appointing or choosing other persons who will join the administration,” he added.
Duterte team
In Davao City, meanwhile, the camp of Mayor Duterte has created its own transition committee on Wednesday to be headed by the presumptive president’s Campaign Manager Leoncio Jun Evasco, the Philippines News Agency (PNA) reported.
The rest of the team, the PNA dispatch said, are: Assistant Campaign Manager and Executive Assistant Christopher Bong Go; Carlos G. Dominguez, former Cabinet member and head of Campaign Finance Committee; lawyers Salvador Medialdea and Loreto Ata, Duterte’s personal attorneys; and Peter Laviña, head of the Duterte-Cayetano Media Team.
Also around to provide support were members of the core group composed of defeated vice-presidential candidate Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano; former Transportation Secretary and elected Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte; former Press Secretary Jesus Dureza and Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles of First Distric of Davao City. Former presidential assistant for Mindanao Paul Dominguez was also seen at the Marco Polo in Davao City.
The meeting followed a call from Mr. Aquino to Duterte congratulating the latter for winning the presidential elections with an assurance of facilitating a smooth transition.
The transition team will only be one of the groups that will be formed to lay the grounds for Duterte’s
assumption into office. Earlier, Laviña said there is also the search committee and the team that will plan for
Duterte’s inauguration.
The transition committee, he added, will help the mayor identify members of the Cabinet and create a team to review Duterte and Cayetano’s policy statements during the campaign.
For the inauguration, Laviña said they would coordinate with Malacañang on protocols.
A team will also be identifying personal envoy to communicate with head of embassies in the Philippines, churches, civil society organizations, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, business chambers, the World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank, among others.
Meanwhile, the members of the mayor’s core group vowed to work for the success of the Duterte administration. When asked if there are senators or congressional representatives who have jumped ship or expressed to support Duterte, Cayetano said it is up to the members of both Houses if they want to support the administration, but hastened to add that the Duterte administration will always welcome offers of support.
Alvarez said they are doing their best that Duterte’s administration will not be a failure. “Ayaw natin na failure ang bagong administration, kaya ginagawa natin ito para suportahan ’yung bagong nakaupo kung ano ang programa niya [We do not want the new administration to be a failure that is why we are doing this, so that the new one
who sits there is supported…what is his program],” Alvarez said. Alvarez added that it should not be if “you are on the other side, you are already an enemy.”
On the other hand, Go assured that Duterte is not vindictive. “’Pag tapos na ang election talo na ang tao, bagsak na, tutulungan ka pa. Hindi vindictive si mayor [When the election is finished…he would still help the person who lost and is down. The mayor is not vindictive],” he assured.
(With PNA)
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez