Ochoa reorganizes Office of the President to improve operations
Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. on Monday announced the organizational restructuring of the Office of the President (OP) to improve the operations and efficiency of the offices within Malacañang.
Ochoa told heads and chiefs of key offices under the OP during the workshop entitled “Improving the Operational Arrangements of the OES (Office of the Executive Secretary) for Better Efficiency and Effectiveness” that changes were necessary to help attain the goals of this administration.
“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.
Under the new organizational structure initiated by the Executive Secretary, five major units will report directly to the OES namely 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.
Another key change under the new set-up is the adoption of a case decongestion and delay reduction strategy for the Legal and Legislative Offices to allow the OP to dispose of the pending cases of the recently abolished Presidential Anti-Graft Commission.
A strategy that will “provide complete statistical analysis of our caseload by type of case, and the specific measures to remove backlog within a specified timeframe” will be adopted, Ochoa said.
At the same time, the Executive Secretary rallied Palace employees to show more initiative and commitment so they can “strategically contribute to the President’s goals for our country.”
Ochoa also told employees following the flag raising ceremony that love of country should motivate them to “do more than what is required of them.” (PCOO)
No power outage in Metro Manila, Palace assures
There should be no cause for concern about possible power outages this summer, specifically in Metro Manila, as there is sufficient power supply in the country.
This Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda assured Monday as he allayed fears of possible brownouts in the metropolis.
In a press briefing, Lacierda explained that power outages could only happen in situations which could adversely affect the supply of power.
“We would like to clarify that there would be no power outages, the only time that it will occur, if some conditions would arise… for instance a power plant would go off its scheduled maintenance”, he said.
Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, according to Lacierda has already assured that there will be no power outages specifically in Metro Manila.
Almendras, in a separate interview, said that contingency measures are already in place in the event of power shortages.
The DOE, he said, has been in constant communication with several power-generating companies to ensure a sufficient supply of power especially this summer where the demand usually increases.
Almendras said that power-generating companies were encouraged to conduct preventive maintenance operations to prevent brownouts.
Part of the contingency plan he explained is the preparation of a diesel and bunker fuel fired plant and the issuance of a circular directing power plant operators to notify the government if their preventive maintenance operations will not be finished on time.
Almendras said that brownouts could only happen if the maximum energy requirement will hit over 7,900 megawatts and in the event of a power plant failure. (PCOO)
