by JAILEEN F. JIMENO

PLL...WHAT? Medy who?

It had always been an obscure office, at least as far as the public was concerned. But now that the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) seems to have suddenly emerged from the shadows and pushed under a very glaring — and very public — spotlight, few are liking what they think they see: yet another government office that has developed a habit of getting involved in scandals.

	SHOW ME THE MONEY. Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio holding a bundle of the "cash gift" he was given in a meeting in Malacañang. [photo by Joe Galvez]

Just recently, for example, PLLO Undersecretary Mercedes ‘Medy’ Poblador and the office’s de facto manager, Undersecretary Joaquin ‘Jake’ Lagonera, were named as among those who distributed the now infamous bundles of cash to local government officials visiting the Palace. A few weeks earlier, at a Senate hearing, Poblador was also mentioned as being allegedly instrumental in preventing then intelligence service agent Vidal Doble Jr. from revealing more about the ‘Hello Garci’ tapes.

Poblador has since lashed back, telling the Philippine Star newspaper that she was being “pilloried” and “vilified” for her perceived power and close ties with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. She also said she was not even at the Palace last October 11, when the likes of Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio and Bulacan Governor Jonjon Mendoza each received a bag containing P500,000. Lagonera, who is also the senior deputy executive secretary, meanwhile told PCIJ that he knew nothing about the cash “gifts” and denied that the PLLO had anything to do with these.

If the public is still insisting to think the worst of Poblador and Lagonera, however, that could be partly because few really know what the PLLO is supposed to be doing. Which is a shame because it is an office that is expected to accomplish crucial tasks for the executive branch — tasks that obviously have repercussions for the rest of the country.

Twenty years ago, the PLLO was directly under the Office of the President. In fact, it was formed by then President Corazon Aquino in 1987 to “provide the conduit and the mechanism in promoting presidential legislative initiatives and maintain close liaison with the Congress of the Philippines.” In nongovernment speak, the PLLO was supposed to get lawmakers to act on legislation needed by Malacañang to achieve its goals. Among its first liaisons to the Senate was law professor and Aquino’s special assistant Flerida Ruth Romero, who would later become a Supreme Court justice.

In August 2004, however, President Arroyo abolished the Legislative Office, which was also under the Office of the President. That office’s functions were transferred to the PLLO, which in turn was placed under the coordinative and oversight responsibility of the Office of Presidential Political Adviser. Today the PLLO has 36 staff members, three of whom are undersecretaries, including Poblador and Lagonera. It has offices at the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as in Malacañang. When the president delivers her State of the Nation Address, she usually drops by the PLLO, near the office of the speaker of House.

BUDGETS, BILLS, AND BUILDING RELATIONS
When it is working efficiently, the PLLO fosters closer executive-legislative relations and helps ensure the passage of the budget before the end of the fiscal year, as well as the confirmation of cabinet secretaries in record time. One former PLLO official says that among its achievements have been helping see the passage of what he describes as “quality bills” such as the Securities Act and the ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

The PLLO had a budget of P22 million last year, modest for an office that has to deal with over 250 lawmakers and all departments that require legislation. Half of its annual budget goes to the “promotion of presidential initiatives and maintenance of close liaison with Congress, nongovernmental organizations and other interested groups, including monitoring of progress of administration bills.” (An ex-PLLO senior staff member translates that to “phone calls, meetings, and conferences with lawmakers and other interest groups.”) The expansion of its scope of lobbying work, which “includes NGOs and other interested groups,” was put into place in 2005, when Lagonera was given the task of with managing the day-to-day activities of the PLLO.

Gabriel ‘Gabby’ Claudio became the office’s chief in August 2004, when he was appointed President Arroyo’s political adviser. When he resigned due to an ailment last August, the president named National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales as the PLLO’s acting head. Last month, Interior and Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno was given a concurrent post as presidential adviser on political affairs, thereby putting the PLLO under his supervision.

To political analyst Ramon Casiple, Puno’s presence at the PLLO is enough to make it suspect. After all, he says, Puno is “a known operator.” Puno, though, is known to resent being called such, and has repeatedly denied being one. Late last week, he was also busy telling ABS-CBN that it was House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.’s fingerprints, not his, that appeared to be all over the recent scandals (including the Palace payoffs) dogging the Arroyo administration.

Yet just a few days later, on Oct. 22, fingers seemed to be pointing again in Puno’s direction, at least with regard to the Palace money-giving. In a hastily called press conference, Bulacan Governor Mendoza announced that he was about to be punished for confirming he had been given money at Malacañang. According to Mendoza, the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), which Puno heads, was poised to suspend him.

DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero has denied this, saying they have no pending case against the freshman governor. But while the attention has now shifted somewhat to the DILG, the PLLO is not yet exactly free from scrutiny, with some observers remaining convinced that its Puno connection means it is part of the Palace money puzzle.