Paquito Ochoa Jr.

Prudent spending practices that included a thorough review of the infrastructure requirements of the city and the rationalization of its utilities expenditures—together with improved revenue collection—allowed Quezon City to successfully balance its budget and pay all the obligations of past administrations, including the P33 million in arrears in premium payments to the GSIS dating back to 1997. It also enabled Quezon City to become one of the local government units least dependent on internal revenue allotments (IRA), with the IRA accounting for only 24% of its total income—11% less than it was in 2001.

The city's fiscal discipline allowed Quezon City to—upon the recommendation of Atty. Ochoa—automatically release the share of Q.C. barangays in the real property tax collections of the city. To ensure that Barangay Chairmen would use their fiscal autonomy wisely, Atty. Ochoa tapped the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance to train the Barangay officials in the proper disbursement of their funds.

The Executive Secretary was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments last February 2, 2011, it was reported that it was the fastest confirmation of an Executive Secretary in 10 years time - he was confirmed in less than 5 minutes.

In 2001, when then Rep. Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr. ran for mayor, Atty. Ochoa headed his legal team. Mayor Belmonte then made Atty. Ochoa his right-hand man and later formally appointed him city administrator in 2003.

The closeness of the Aquino and Ochoa families had its roots from the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. being a close friend of Ochoa Sr., who was then mayor of Pulilan, Bulacan. It would lead to Atty. Ochoa being tapped by President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to handle the latter's legal requirements when he first ran for Congress in 1998; Atty. Ochoa has handled his legal affairs ever since.

Ochoa took his A.B. in economics at the University of Santo Tomas and law at the Ateneo de Manila University. He was admitted to the bar in 1986, and his pro-bono work in his province led to his election as Director and then Vice President of the Bulacan Chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. He also engaged in private practice and served as partner of the De Mesa and Ochoa Law Offices and later partner (on leave) in the Marcos Ochoa Serapio Tan Law Firm.

Paquito "Jojo" Navarro Ochoa Jr. (born November 11, 1960) is a Filipino lawyer. He served as the Executive Secretary of the Philippines under the Administration of President Benigno Aquino III. He had been the city administrator of Quezon City from 2001 to 2010.