GMA revamps Office of the President

Apparently feeling that even a "snake pit" needs some order, President Arroyo has carried out a minor internal reorganization to streamline the Office of the President.

With journalist Rigoberto Tiglao assuming office as presidential spokesman on April 16, current spokesman and presidential chief of staff Renato Corona will concentrate on his task of "trafficking" papers between the President and the Cabinet.

Executive Secretary Renato de Villa, on the other hand, will "take care of the papers of the entire bureaucracy," Corona explained, dismissing notions that there would be a duplication of functions.

Under the Administrative Code, the Executive Secretary has the line function of acting as central receiver of papers submitted to and coming from the President.

But the President is also entitled to a great deal of la-titude in assigning tasks to members of her official fa-mily, and she has delineated the jurisdictions of Corona and De Villa.

Aside from "trafficking" Cabinet communications, Corona said he has also been authorized to speak for the President on "administrative" matters falling within his jurisdiction.

However, he clarified that Tiglao will be the official spokesman while Press Secretary Noel Cabrera will handle the government public information machinery.

Meanwhile, Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Secretary Vicky Garchitorena will be in charge of screening all presidential appointees, a task handled by the Personnel Management Committee during the Estrada administration.

The PMS will also be in charge of the preparations and other staff work for presidential visits to the provinces.

The delineation of functions in the Arroyo Cabinet is a departure from the organizational set-up adopted by the Estrada administration which eventually led to inter-office intrigues.

Palace intrigues were so ferocious during the Estrada administration that former presidential spokesman Fernando Barican resigned in exasperation and expressed relief at leaving a "snake pit."

The term itself, however, was said to have been coined by Ilocos Rep. Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.