MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang squelched speculations yesterday that “factions” within the Cabinet of President Aquino were causing miscommunication among officials, a problem that came to light during the tragic hostage incident on Aug. 23.
“It will no longer help if we add to many other speculations because that has no basis and we are doing what we can to the best of our abilities,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said.
The President’s men were reportedly not seeing eye to eye, hence their real or perceived difficulty in getting their act together.
Reports said the animosity between the “Samar” and the “Balay” factions dates back to the campaign period.
The Samar group – named after Samar street in Quezon City where the group held office – is composed of officials who supposedly supported Mr. Aquino and now Vice President Jejomar Binay, while the Balay group – named after its headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City – includes those who backed the President and his defeated running mate, former Sen. Manuel Roxas II.
Coloma and presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the issue has been blown out of proportion.
Coloma said they were working together, especially those from the communications group, because all of them joined the government to support Mr. Aquino.
Lacierda said he does not belong to any group although he is identified with Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Balay group while Coloma is associated with the Samar group, along with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
Coloma and Lacierda said such factionalism ceased to exist after Mr. Aquino’s victory.
Coloma said it should not matter whether some groups pushed for the appointment of certain officials because “we are all appointees of the President and in the end, it’s the President who decided.”
Coloma said all of them after all had helped Mr. Aquino during the campaign.
Lacierda said he was offered a position when Mr. Aquino saw that he was clearly winning in the canvassing.
Lacierda stressed there was no infighting that led to the botched rescue of Hong Kong tourists held hostage inside a bus by a dismissed policeman.
“Let me just clarify, it is not true that the factions contributed to the lack of coordination. President Aquino already said that the person in charge of the police is Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno because he is undersecretary in charge of public order,” Lacierda said in a radio interview.
Lacierda said the expertise of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo is in local governments.
Lacierda also said that Roxas was present in some Palace functions because he is the Liberal Party president.
He said both Coloma and Carandang were with the President at his “command center” at the Emerald Garden restaurant on Roxas Boulevard in Manila in the last few hours of the hostage crisis.
“It’s totally blown out of proportion,” Lacierda insisted.