The chief crime-buster as ‘caretaker’

For the next six days, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano “Vit” Aguirre II gets to be “little president” while President Rodrigo Duterte is out of the country on official trips abroad. President Duterte designated him to head the caretaker committee of the government while he and several other Cabinet members are attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) being held this year in Cambodia.

The titular “little president” is actually the Executive Secretary, Salvador Medialdea who is traditionally the designated “caretaker” of the government whenever the Chief Executive is out of the country for official trips.

But Medialdea leaves today for Hong Kong from where he will join the presidential entourage to China. Thus, Aguirre takes charge as the head of the three-man “caretaker” committee at Malacanang Palace.

President Duterte embarked on his latest working visits abroad until May 17. During this period, the “caretaker” committee is tasked “to take care of the day-to-day operations in the Office of the President and to oversee the general administration of the Executive Department.”

As soon as President Duterte steps back to Philippine soil, the Aguirre “caretaker” committee automatically closes shop.

In reality though, the “caretaker” committee is merely the conduit of the President through which he conducts the affairs of the state while physically out of the country. With internet and other modern telecommunications equipment, the President can discharge his functions in virtual reality.

This is not the first that Medialdea joined the President abroad. When Medialdea joined the foreign trip of the President last year, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno was designated to head the “caretaker” committee.

Now as the head of the “caretaker” committee, Aguirre got his extra job assignment a few hours before President Duterte left for Cambodia last Wednesday afternoon. Earlier that day, Aguirre was my featured guest during our weekly breakfast forum at Kapihan sa Manila Bay in Cafe Adriatico in Remedios Circle, Malate.

Aguirre is set to join though the next state visit of President Duterte who is scheduled to go to Moscow in Russia later this month. The DOJ Secretary disclosed he would sign two bilateral agreements with his counterpart Russian Justice Minister. These are namely, the proposed Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and the Extradition Treaty between the Philippines and Russia.

Aguirre said there would have been a third agreement on the proposed Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners (TSP) but both sides failed to agree on some terms. According to Aguirre, Russian ambassador to the Philippines Igor Anatolyevich Khobaev told him about four Russians are in jail here for crimes committed in the Philippines. Aguirre could not say, however, if there are any Filipinos imprisoned in the Russian Federation.

We had a good laugh with Aguirre toward the end of our Kapihan sa Manila Bay, when in the middle of our forum one of his two mobile phones rang. While holding the wireless microphone in his left hand, his right hand picked up the ringing phone from the chest pocket of his black jacket over barong.

Interrupted by his ringing phone, the DOJ Secretary tried to turn it off. But after apparently seeing his wife’s name appear on his I-phone, Aguirre answered it instead. Placing the microphone to his left ear like a telephone handset, Aguirre said “Hello” while holding the I-phone on his other hand.

It was a hilarious “wow, mali” scene. The DOJ Secretary facetiously told his wife over the phone his audience at the forum were all laughing at him. Quickly recovering from his comic slip, the DOJ Secretary wittily wisecracked: “This would be another iconic picture of me.”

He was, of course, referring to the famous – or is it infamous – picture of him covering both of his ears with his hands, mimicking the “hear no evil” icon. The late Sen.Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was taking her turn to interpellate as Senator-juror, caught Aguirre doing his mimic while the latter was seated along with his fellow private prosecutors during the impeachment trial of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Sen. Santiago angrily asked her fellow Senate-jurors to cite Aguirre for contempt. And the rest, as we say, is history.

This bit of trivia came to his mind after he recalled being accused of badmouthing the Liberal Party (LP) as “dilawan” at the height of his running feud with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. On obvious digs at LP – to which the yellow color is associated – Aguirre pointed to “dilawan” groups as behind the alleged smear campaign meant to destabilize the Duterte administration.

His “dilawan’ tirades earned him the ire of the LP bloc at the 25-man Commission on Appointments (CA). Aguirre said it was during his confirmation last year that the CA first adopted the “secret” voting by the bicameral body. Though composed largely of pro-administration lawmakers, Aguirre knew his confirmation was being blocked by LP and Trillanes.

Aguirre reminded the LP members at the CA he himself was “dilawan” when he was one of the private prosecutors during the Corona impeachment trial. He only cut his ties from ex-President Benigno Aquino III, he said, after the Mamasapano incident in January 2015. In that incident, he rued, P-Noy solely pinned down ex-SAF chief Getulio Napeñas. Aguirre happens to be a relative of Napeñas on the mother side.

After former Davao City Mayor Duterte decided to run during the May 9 presidential elections, it was then Aguirre said he shifted support to his former San Beda College of Law classmate.

When then President-elect Duterte appointed him Justice Secretary on May 18 last year, Aguirre cited the marching orders to him were to go hammer and tongs against illegal drugs, illegal gambling, other crimes and corruption in and out of the government.

Although grappling with graft-prone agencies under the DOJ, Aguirre believes he has been making large dents against the illegal trade by criminal groups. Aguirre does his job sans the high-profile, media-hogging antics of PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa in the fight against illegal drugs and other crimes.

In fact, when Aguirre came to our Kapihan forum, he arrived alone without the usual media officers with him. But he came in with a phalanx of close-in security escorts in barong tagalog. As the chief crime-buster of the Duterte administration, the Justice Secretary fits his newest assignment as “caretaker” of the government.