Executive privilege

PRESIDENT Cory Aquino had four executive secretaries going in and out the door during her six years in office. How is it that her son, five years after he became President and five months before he exits Malacañang, has been able to make do with only one ES?

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa’s secret? It may be that he’s “shy,” preferring to keep out of the public eye. It may be that “the focus is him, this job is not about me, it’s him,” referring to his boss the President. Whatever intrigues may come his way, “ignore it.” Ignore it, and survive another day.

After all, “it’s only a job.” Even if it puts him in a more powerful place than the Vice President of the Philippines? The ES is not called “little president” for nothing.

Five months before he bids goodbye to the position he holds in what a former First Daughter called a snakepit, ES Ochoa hosted a Chinese dinner at Mabuhay Palace for us girls who don’t cover the Palace beat, i.e., we’re not part of the pack, i.e., we don’t get to see him stressed out or distressed in his office or to observe his management style (if any). For example, when Rene Almendras was drafted to be the President’s Cabinet secretary, opinion writers were lustfully salivating to catch the first signs of a clash of the titans. How did it not happen in a snakepit with 1,200 employees and officials?

Secretary Ochoa’s gleeful account, whether you believe it or not, goes like this: “I told my boys, if Secretary Almendras’ people come to you with a proposal or suggestion for work, give it to them.” Keep the other team busy and avoid conflict? He should write a textbook for AIM!

I asked, “Do you have a family life?” Yes, he answered casually. A social life? Yes, answered with a nod. A personal life? “I’m normal!” was his emphatic reply. Recalling how years ago he was seen drunk and staggering out of a hotel, he ‘fessed up: “That was true, I was drunk, but only that part about the drinking.”