Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa Jr. said on Monday he made organizational changes in the Office of the President (OP) to improve the efficiency of the legal and administrative offices under it. In a statement issued on Monday, Ochoa said he has adopted a "case decongestion and delay reduction strategy" for the OP's legal and legislative offices. This will allow Malacañang to dispose immediately the pending cases handled by the recently-abolished Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, Ochoa said. The strategy will “provide complete statistical analysis of our caseload by type of case, and the specific measures to remove backlog within a specified timeframe," Ochoa said. Ochoa said the changes in the OP were necessary to improve its operations and efficiency. “When I started conceptualization of the improvements we need to make, I was confronted with the old and the new. I recognized the wisdom of continuing the many practices that have been tested by time, but at the same time I saw the need to infuse new things," Ochoa said. He reiterated that five major units should report directly to his his office:
the Legal and Legislative Offices (formerly the Legal Office); the Government Affairs and Financial Administrative Offices (formerly the Finance and General Government and Administration Office); the Strategic Initiatives and Government Performance Monitoring Offices; the Internal Audit Office, and the Executive Secretary’s immediate staff and support offices. President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III's legal team—which Ochoa heads—has been criticized by several quarters, including Senator Joker Arroyo who likened Malacañang to a "student government" because of the legal team's mistakes, among others. For instance, Aquino's first legal issuance, Memorandum Circular No. 1 which contained the status of some government employees, had to be amended because of its confusing wording. Proclamation No. 50 granting amnesty to those who participated in attempted coup attempts against the Arroyo administration also had to be amended. The most recent blow to the Palace legal team was the Supreme Court's decision to declare as unconstitutional Executive Order No. 1 creating the Truth Commission which will investigate corruption scandals in the nine-year Arroyo administration. Amid criticisms on the Palace's legal issuances, Aquino added retired Court of Appeals Justice Magdangal Elma to his legal team. Elma, the incumbent presidential assistant for special concerns, had also dispensed legal advice to two former presidents: Aquino's late mother Corazon Aquino and deposed president Joseph Estrada. – VVP, GMANews.TV 
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