Palace defends PNoy's 'clear' desk

A clean desk does not mean one is unproductive. This was how presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda defended the photographs of President Benigno Aquino III showing a clear desk. "You know, I cannot divine the intention of those people who put it out [on] Facebook because I haven’t seen the picture yet," Lacierda said at a press briefing in Malacañang. Nonetheless, he said the President’s desk was clear because the stacks of folder submitted to him are on his left side. He added that the photograph was most likely taken in the afternoon when the President was almost finished with his paperworks.

"If you see the table of the President sa Guest House, all his stacks of folders are on his left side eh. There are two stacks of high folders eh — parati ‘yang nand’yan, nakaabang ‘yan, nire-review. These are all the briefing materials that we get and also documents that he may sign," he explained. He noted that United States President Barack Obama also has a clear desk in his pictures. "You see that medyo clear ang table but that doesn’t mean that Barack Obama is not working. You cannot gauge and conclude from a single photograph that the President (Aquino) is not working," he said. "That is an unfair basis to judge the President’s working habit. All I can tell you is that just today we already had two briefings and we still have another briefing and a private meeting. So the President continues to do his work with or without pictures to prove that he’s working and I can guarantee you that," he added. — RSJ, GMA News