Related article: Drilon congratulates “Samar group” with Roxas appointment as DOTC secretary (Article in comments)
PNoy appoints Mar to DOTC. Photo from Inquirer.
Mar Roxas is now the new secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications replacing Jose “Ping” de Jesus, whose resignation is a subject of numerous speculations.
The Manila Times’ Dante Ang, in an information-filled article complete with findings of the Commission on Audit of irregularities in a radar project, said de Jesus did not resign. He was actually fired.
We have yet to know the whole truth about what happened at the DOTC amidst the spins being given fed to the media.
In announcing the appointment of Roxas, Aquino admitted that Roxas was originally slated to take a position based in Malacañang.“Sabi ko sa kanya kelangan sana kita sa headquarters pero may sunog sa frontlines…. Puwede ba sumugod ka muna doon? ”
Aquino said aside from being DOTC secretary, he also named Roxas senior member of the cabinet economic cluster.
The appointment of Roxas to the DOTC partly solves the problem that would have resulted if he were appointed ‘chief- of- staff’ and held office in Malacañang.
The ‘Samar’ faction, so named because the group was holding office at the house of realtor Gerry Acuzar, brother-in-law of Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa during the election campaign, supported Jejomar Binay for vice-president.
The group that supported Roxas is called the “Balay” faction because they were meeting in “Balay”, a place at the Araneta compound, owned by the family of Roxas’ mother, Judy Araneta-Roxas.
From the start of the almost one-year old Aquino administration, there was a fierce battle for positions based in Malacañang. Both factions believe that it is an advantage to be physically near the President. The nearness would allow any one of them to immediately give inputs to any issue at hand and they hope, influence the President’s decision.
That advantage is enjoyed by Ochoa who holds office in the same building where the President holds office too. Members of the Balay group are worried of the proximity of Ochoa to the President. “Ang lungkot sa Premier Guesthouse. Kami lang dalawa ni Noynoy.”
Next to the Premier Guest House is the New Executive Building where offices of cabinet members dealing with media are located namely Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, Secretary Ricky Carandang of Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office and his deputy Manolo Quezon, and Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Sonny Coloma.
Julia Abad, head of the Presidential Management Staff, which is located in a building near Malacanang but not within the Malacañang compound, maintains a small office at the NEB.
Ochoa enjoys “high comfort level” with the President being his lawyer way back when Aquino was congressman.
The appointment of Roxas as chief-of-staff was a matter of concern for the Samar” group as it would duplicate the role of Ochoa as presidential gatekeeper. Even now, a source said, Abad as PMS head tries to act also as “gatekeeper”, which is being resented by members of Samar group.
The resignation or firing of De Jesus, whatever version one wants to believe,although initially seen as a blow to the one-year old Aquino administration, gifted Aquino with a “Solomonic” solution that diffused for now the battle for proximity to him among his suppporters.
Asked if his DOTC appointment, which will make him hold office in the department’s Ortigas Avenue office in Mandaluyong, was the handiwork of the ‘Samar’ faction in the Aquino administration, Roxas just shrugged his shoulders.
Just like when he gave up his presidential bid in favor of Aquino, Roxas is being praised for accepting the position of DOTC secretary. As Facebooker Ruben Licera Jr said,“ You don’t serve where you want to but where you are needed by your country and leader. I think this is the essence of public service.”