A new Palace committee is ready to meet anytime with its counterpart from incoming president Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for the seamless transfer of power next month.
The Presidential Transition Committee, created by President Aquino via Administrative Order No. 49, held its first meeting last Friday to set the stage for the transition process leading the inauguration of the incoming president on June 30.
“The Presidential Transition Committee led by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa is prepared to work with and meet with the transition team of the next administration,” Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in Filipino over State-owned DZRB yesterday.
“If there is a definite schedule between the two groups, we will make the necessary announcement,” Coloma added.
The Palace Transition Committee earlier committed to consolidate all transition reports of all departments, agencies, bureaus, and government-owned and -controlled corporations under the Executive Branch by the end of the month.
The submission of the transition reports would give the incoming administration ample time to review these reports before assumption into office, Coloma said.
President Aquino earlier reached out to the camp of Duterte and promised the “smoothest transition possible” to the next administration. He said the Cabinet stands ready to brief Duterte’s team on any and all of their concerns.
“Part of the peaceful transfer of power is to say, ‘Look at these are things we have done, the idea is this, these are the components that still have to be done, these are things to look out and watch out in coming months, in coming years,’ assuming they are predisposed to listening to us,” Aquino said in a recent media interview. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)