WITH A new administration in place, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is entrusting Ateneo alumni with cabinet positions as they take on the challenge of directing the Philippines to prosperity and progress.

JOJO OCHOA Jr.

DUBBED AS the “Little President”, Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa Jr. is currently the Executive Secretary of President Noynoy Aquino.

Having known each other for quite some time – since their fathers, the late Senator Ninoy Aquino and former Pulilan Mayor Paquito Ochoa Sr., were both part of the Liberal Party – they started working together when Ochoa volunteered to be Aquino’s legal counsel when the latter ran as congressman in the 2nd district of Tarlac.

“If ever I stated a position with regard to the law, I don’t think I have ever been proven wrong in the position I took. And I have to credit him with a lot of sound advice,” said Aquino when he was asked why he chose Ochoa.

Ochoa graduated with a degree in Economics at the University of Santo Tomas and finished law at the Ateneo de Manila.

Ochoa isn’t new in politics, having been Quezon City administrator for nine years, from 2001 to 2010, when he was called their “Little Mayor” for being the alter ego of their mayor.

His function as the “Little President” carries a similar role as he gives advise and assists the President in managing the government

However, being the Executive Secretary is different because it meant constant communication with the media. Although he abhorred being in the limelight, Ochoa said that he will try to be more open to the media to broadcast what is happening in the government.

As Executive Secretary, Ochoa is the highest-ranking Cabinet official.

Sources: Gmanews.tv, abs-cbnNEWS.com and Philstar.com

BUTCH ABAD

Having a position in the cabinet (as the Department of Budget and Management Secretary) is nothing new to Florencio “Butch” Abad as he was formerly Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Education Secretary in the Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administrations, respectively.

Included in his political experience are his multiple stints in Congress as he was the representative of Batanes back in 1987 and in 1995, 1998 and 2001. While in Congress, he was one of the advocates of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Abad is a product of the Ateneo de Manila High School (1972), graduated from the Loyola Schools with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, going on to Ateneo Law School, eventually passing the Bar Examination in 1985.

He was also a fellow of the Edward Mason Program in Public Policy and Management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University.

Abad’s ties with Ateneo doesn’t end with being a student, however, as he was also Research Director of the Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs and lecturer in the Graduate School of Business.

Abad also put in major contributions in the campaign operations of the current president during the campaign period of the 2010 National Elections.

As Department of Budget and Management Secretary, Abad handles the allocation of government resources, one of which is the as the national budget.

Sources: Eleksyon.com, Wikipilinias.org

PATRICIA LICUANAN

PATRICIA LICUANAN comes from a family of educators. Some of her well-known relatives include her grandmother Paz Marquez Benitez, renowned short story writer, and her mother Virginia Benitez, a newspaper columnist and historical writer.

Now, as newly-appointed Chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Licuanan continues to create a name for herself and her family in the field of education.

Licuanan spent 25 years in Ateneo, first as a faculty member, then as the head of the Psychology Department, and eventually the Academic Vice-President of the Loyola Schools. She also founded the Ateneo Center for Organizational Research and Development.

She was the president of Miriam College prior to her appointment.

As the recently-appointed chair of CHEd, Licuanan said that she would help “reverse the deterioration of Philippine higher education.”

“We should not prepare yet another report but should make sense of and rationalize these recommendations and most important, generate the political will to finally implement them,” she added.

Licuanan’s priority is to oversee higher educational institutions whose graduates fail to pass their board examinations.

“The change that is expected of us is not only if we have been ‘sleeping on the job,’ but that is part of it too,” she said.

“As chair of CHEd, I consider it my job—and here I paraphrase the words of Eleanor Roosevelt—to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That is both a promise and a warning,” she added.

Sources: Ashacentre.org, Zoominfo.com, Pinoyvote.net, Sunstar.ph, Ateneocord.org.ph, Inquirer.net

JULIA ABAD

LIKE FATHER, like daughter—Similar to her father Florencio “Butch” Abad who is currently the Department of Budget and Management Secretary, Julia Abad was also appointed by President Noynoy Aquino as the Chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

The PMS is the unit that manages the projects and policies development of the Office of the President.

Genealogically speaking, Julia should not be considered as a political neophyte despite being only 31 years old, as she comes from a well-known political family.

She graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Communication in 2000 and earned her Master’s degree in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University School afterwards. She is a Fulbright alumna of Harvard University.

Part of her work experience include writing for the Ayala Foundation, serving as the Executive Assistant of then Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman and became a “citizen participation intern” at the Washington-based National Democratic Institute. After her stint with Harvard, she taught in the Loyola Schools as a Political Science professor.

“I tried to do other things, so it’s a little bit of a tug-of-war. I vacillated between doing private [work], NGO, foundation work, and doing government [work]. So if you look at my CV [Curriculum Vitae], you’ll see that pabalik-balik ako (I’m here and there),” she said.

Prior to her appointment as PMS Chief, Abad was Aquino’s Chief of Staff in the senate.

Sources: Eleksyon.co, Ops.gov.ph

RESEARCH BY KARLOS C. ORTEGA, BEA L. MANDAC AND DESSA M. JIMENEZ |  ILLUSTRATIONS BY KARA C. CHUNG