Lacierda: Elma should have just submitted advice to Aquino

At least one Palace official thinks that Presidential Assistant for Special Concerns Magdangal Elma, the latest addition to the Malacañang legal team, should have just submitted his recommendations on the Truth Commission to President Benigno Aquino III instead of releasing it to the media. Last Monday, Elma's office told Palace reporters he submitted a memorandum to Aquino proposing to let the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) investigate corruption cases in the Arroyo administration that were supposed to be probed by the Truth Commission. Apparently, Elma's press release to the media did not have the go-signal of Malacañang. In a press briefing on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda answered with "I don't believe so" when asked if it was the Palace that released Elma's recommendations. Elma, a former Court of Appeals associate justice who also served as legal counsel to Aquino's mother, the late former president Corazon Aquino, made the recommendation after the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional Executive Order No. 1 creating the Truth Commission. Elma had earlier been appointed to his current post to strengthen the Malacañang legal team and help explore the options after the SC ruled against EO 1. "I think the prudent thing to do was just to submit [it] to the President," Lacierda said in response to a question of whether it was proper to release the recommendations to the media. "But since it’s out, again, we’re saying that all the recommendations will be studied by the legal team," Lacierda quickly added. ‘It is not for Lacierda to decide’ Elma's camp, however, stood by its move to publicize the new presidential adviser’s recommendations to the president. "It is his [Elma's] duty to give advice directly to PNoy. It is not for Secretary Lacierda to tell Justice Elma about the prudent things that should be done," said Elma's chief of staff, Regino Moreno, in a phone interview with GMANews.TV. Moreno said Elma's office released the recommendations "precisely as a response to the various criticisms of the president regarding Executive Order No. 1." "That was the reason why Justice Elma decided to give a press statement, to inform the media that something is being done in order to present options to the president on the legal aspect of EO 1," said Moreno. Prior to Elma's recommendations, Malacañang's legal team headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa were considering, among others, filing a motion for reconsideration with the SC, or amending EO No. 1 to include past administrations other than the Arroyo government to avoid violating the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Lacierda said Malacañang is currently considering all options presented to the president. "All these suggested options are being discussed by the legal team right now. There are several options, so we will just withhold what those options are until such time that the Executive Secretary or the President will decide what course of action the legal team will take," said the Palace spokesman.—JV, GMANews.TV