No reason to revamp legal team, says President Aquino

President Benigno Aquino III sees no reason to revamp Malacañang’s legal team despite the recent setback that had the Supreme Court slapping a temporary restraining order on the law synchronizing the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with the 2013 elections.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte made the statement in reaction to remarks attributed to lawyer Harry Roque that the ARMM setback happened because the members of the legal team didn’t consult Solicitor-General Jose Anselmo Cadiz.

“Well, that’s not true. The legal team of the President and even Solicitor-General Cadiz can say that whenever there big issues like this, they talk and they have meetings to talk about what to do,” Valte said over state-run radio station dzRB.

“That’s why, if you notice, whenever there are issues like this, we really say that we will wait for the results of the meeting,” she added.

The meetings she referred to are usually with Cadiz, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Asked if the President sees any reason to revamp his legal team, Valte said, “We think there’s none. And of course, with President Aquino being the appointing authority, everybody serves at the pleasure of the President.”

“The President would be the one who can say if he doesn’t like the how we do our job,” Valte said.

The Supreme Court’s TRO threw a monkey wrench on the President Aquino’s reform agenda in the ARMM.

The Aquino administration successfully pushed for a law that would synchronize the ARMM elections—scheduled in August this year—with the 2013 elections.

The law also provided for the appointment of officers-in-charge that would take on the tasks of running the regional government when the term of the incumbent officials expire.

The administration said it wanted reforms to take place in the ARMM before its electorate is again exposed to the rigors of elections.

Aside from corruption, one of the issues that the Aquino administration wants to change is the alleged control of political warlords of the conduct of elections in the ARMM.

The region is reputed to be one of the areas where national candidates expect to get padded results in their favor.