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Aquino to meet with Puno, Robredo to ‘thresh out’ feud


President Benigno Aquino III has decided to "thresh out" the supposed feud between a key member of his Cabinet and a subordinate, saying that their focus should be on nation-building and not “intramurals". Aquino said he will meet with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo and DILG Undersecretary Rico E. Puno on Sunday night or Monday morning.

Illustration by Analyn Perez
"I'll be meeting him (Puno) and Sec. Robredo either tonight or tomorrow morning. I want to thresh all of these things out with them. There are certain goals I have in mind, and it's either achieved or I take corrective actions," the President explained in an ambush interview at the 10th National Cooperative Summit at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. “Sometimes… things are said that perhaps were not taken in the proper context. Or he (Puno) wasn't also able to convey what he was thinking at the time," said Aquino. “So that's why I want to sit down with both of them. Something like that is not proper behavior for members of the Cabinet," he said. "We are building the nation, and this should be our focus. But how will we fix our country, how will we improve the lot of our poorest brethren? We have no time for intramurals," added the President. Puno, who is the President's long-time friend and shooting buddy, has prominently figured in two recent inquiries, on the August 23 hostage-taking and on jueteng payola.
Named in jueteng payola scandal In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Thursday, the DILG undersecretary said that five groups had fed information to retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who then relayed the same to a Congressional inquiry, that he is among the high-ranking recipients of jueteng payoffs. The embattled undersecretary then said these groups include the one headed by Robredo, the "Balay" group, the "Samar" group, a fourth group composed of people interested in his post, and a fifth group affiliated with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Puno added half-jokingly that he is a member of the "Times group," and not associated with any of the known factions in the administration. President Aquino's private residence is on Times Street in Quezon City. The Balay and Samar cliques are supposedly the warring factions composed of supporters of defeated Liberal Party vice presidential bet Manuel “Mar" Roxas, on one side, and supporters of incumbent Vice President Jejomar Binay on the other side. (See: Who's who in Noynoy's rise to the presidency) Robredo's political group, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, has already denied involvement in a demolition job against Puno. Malacañang, through deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, told reporters on Saturday that it is up to Puno to support his claims that groups are out to malign him. Aquino conceded Puno lapses When the report of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) was submitted to Aquino, Puno was at the top of a list of 13 persons recommended for sanctions over the hostage fiasco. (See: IIRC asks public to be patient as Palace reviews recommendations) The release of the IIRC report and the jueteng controversy that nearly coincided in late September led to Puno’s offer to resign once President Aquino returned from a working visit to the United States. But Aquino refused to accept the courtesy resignation, saying Puno is entitled to due process. Last week, Puno retracted his earlier pronouncements and said he will no longer step down from office because Aquino told him to stay on. At the same time, while Aquino conceded some lapses on the part of his long-time friend and shooting-range buddy, he also maintained that there is a “campaign to disparage the reputation" of Puno. (See: Aquino admits DILG's Puno had lapses but...) Puno and Robredo have both received flak over the role of DILG, which has civilian administrative supervision of the Philippine National Police, in the mishandling of August 23 hostage crisis in Manila that left eight Hong Kong nationals dead. Puno is the undersecretary tasked to supervise the PNP even as he had admitted he has no background in actual law enforcement and in the strategy and management of crises such as the August 23 incident. (See: DILG Usec Puno is gun enthusiast, longtime PNoy friend) On Sunday, Aquino declined to say whether he intends to keep both Robredo and Puno is government, although he assured the public he will discuss the matter on Monday. “Can I make an announcement by tomorrow (Monday)? ... We'll be having a meeting. I don't want to preempt the meeting. So can I just tell you by tomorrow (Monday)?" No more Mr. Nice Guy Meanwhile, administration ally Sen. Francisco Pangilinan told President Aquino to address the problem of warring factions in his government. "PNoy must crack the whip and tell all those surrounding him that given the serious problems facing the country, without unity there is no way his administration can succeed. I know he has it in him to do so, and now is the time to do it. No more Mr. Nice Guy," the Liberal Party senator said in a statement. Pangilinan, however, declined to confirm whether the warring factions he referred to are the Balay and Samar groups.—JV, GMANews.TV
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