DOJ chief, ES meet on PCGG leadership vacuum

Belying reports of a turf war, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. met Friday over the leadership vacuum at the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). De Lima on Saturday said she and Ochoa agreed on the need to appoint a new chairman, after they clarified a “miscommunication" in appointing OICs to the PCGG. “Kahapon nagkita kami ni ES Ochoa. Sabi ko sa kanya ‘nakapag-designate ako and I learned you designated another one.’ Sabi niya, ‘we better appoint the new chairman, nagkakagulo pala tayo.’ So di totoo ang sabing di kami nag-usap ," she said in an interview on dzBB radio. (I met with Executive Secretary Ochoa Friday. I told him I designated an OIC and he designated another one. He said we better appoint a new chairman because of the miscommunication. So it is not true we are not on speaking terms.) “Di totoo yan. Wala kaming alitan sa anumang bagay (The claim of a rift is not true. We do not have any fight on anything)," she added, referring to the reported rift between her and Ochoa. A report on the Philippine Star newspaper Saturday said recently resigned PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio quietly assumed his post again last Thrusday, but only in a holdover capacity. The report said Ochoa had designated Sabio as acting PCGG chairman. On the other hand, De Lima designated last week Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Paras to the post. The newspaper article cited sources as saying Ochoa and De Lima are “not on speaking terms." — LBG, GMANews.TV