Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? The proverbial question which results in pro and con arguments that trump each other to no end.
The political structure of the Philippines is one that is also the root cause of its problems. A republican form of government with a bicameral legislature bereft of an excellent civil service system that is beholden to political patronage.
This results in the cycle of in and out with every change of administration which could only be avoided before if the incumbent won a second term. Since 1987, no reelection is allowed under that Constitution so the rigodon goes on every six years. It’s not a wonder why we don’t have any long-term accomplishments. You can’t keep on changing the captain of the ship and expect to arrive at your destination on time. It’s simply impossible.
Memorandum Circular No. 1 declared all appointive positions and non-plantila personnel on contract of service or job order status to be vacant but only until such time appointments have been made to replace them. This was signed by the Executive Secretary by authority of the President.
This puts those affected in a state of flux as they look for padrinos who can help them retain their posts. As with any new administration, there is intense lobbying and jockeying for positions. Political debts and favors are collected. This is also true for the local government level.
Executive Orders No. 1 and 2 reorganized the Office of the President and the PCOO. Effectively the Presidential Management Staff is no longer under the Office of the Special Assistant to the President. It goes back to the Office of the President under the supervision of the Executive Secretary vice the Head of the PMS. As far as the Office of the President is concerned, it is the Vic Rodriguez and Naida Angping show for administrative and supports functions to the President.
The Special Assistant to the President is Anton Lagdameo. It remains to be seen what is actually the function of Lagdameo as he is definitely not a Bong Go. Will there be a division of labor between Lagdameo and Rodriguez? The Executive Secretary is essentially the Chief of Staff in the Executive Branch though during the time of GMA, she had a COS separate from the ES. The assignment of posts define the power dynamics in the President’s inner sanctum.
Ten days before the SONA and the Cabinet is still not complete. The most recent appointment was the designation of Rosario Vergeire as OIC at the DOH.
Popo Lotilla at the DOE is a good choice given his background but it remains to be seen if he will push for the adoption of nuclear energy. It doesn’t augur well that he is a top executive in the energy sector. He could be biased against nuclear power plants. At this point, the DOE needs a man of vision like Geronimo Velasco because we need a long-term energy development and security plan.
I was expecting a change in Presidential communications given the standard that Marcos experienced before with Apo Lakay’s communications team headed by Greg Cendana and Ed Finlan and the then National Media Production Center, but nothing doing. I didn’t think it could be any worse than the way Martin Andanar ran the PCOO but surpise, surprise. It’s actually worse.
Marcos needs a more effective and articulate Press Secretary. Ernie Abella did a good job for Duterte in the early days of his administration. So did Sartorial Sal. To my mind, the worst were Andanar and Roque.
PTV-4 would hopefully be brought back to its glory days but I don’t see that happening under the Office of the Press Secretary. You need a broadcast veteran in the caliber of Rod Reyes to head Presidential communications and the attached agencies to the office.
In this day and age with the 25/8 news cycle, it’s essential the government communications should be firing on all cylinders. There has to be an integrated strategy behind the communications and messaging of the President. This is essential considering that detractors of the administration will not stop with their networked propaganda campaign not only against the President but his family as well.
RTVM has reverted back to the Office of the President. Will Paul Soriano be running the show? I hope that he continues with is excellent work during the campaign. Presidential coverages are important. The best was actually during the heyday of the NMPC, specially when the President was abroad engaging in diplomacy. If Paul Soriano continues on handling the coverage then we can expect improvement in the quality.
Ten days before the SONA and the Marcos administration hasn’t been able to come up with a socio-economic agenda to serve as the roadmap for their six-year term. What gives?
The reason for this is there is the inherent weakness of Marcos that his contacts in the private and public sector are limited. Marcos didn’t attend university in the country. He was a pariah since he and his family were able to return to the country after their exile.
It doesn’t help that there were only a few former government officials who were part of his campaign unlike Duterte who had his Davao, San Beda and Lyceum network of classmates, colleagues and government peers who were working in his campaign.
There is also management style. From the onset, Duterte was hands-off on the economy. He left that solely in the hands of Sonny Dominguez and his team. As such, Dominguez was the one who laid out the 0 – 10 point socio-economic agenda of the Duterte administration which served as its roadmap for its term. It also served as the KPI against which the economic managers benchmarked their actual versus projected results.
As we have seen throughout Duterte’s term, he delegates tasks to his team and trusts them to deliver. Duterte never veered away from his expertise which was more mayoral functions and key political maneuvers. Duterte ran the country like a mayor but he was also well-aware of the other duties and responsibilities of the Presidency.
In contrast, Marcos is more a CEO type of President who is bound to the desk. Duterte left the Executive’s administrative and other functions to Medialdea. He gave marching orders during Cabinet meetings and after that, he was off to events outside of Metro Manila. He always knew the public pulse because of this and whatever he could act upon, he did. This was Duterte being a populist and it served him in good stead because he is the only post-Marcos President who ended his term with record-high approval and trust ratings.
Marcos needs to come up with his own 0 – 10 point socio-economic agenda. I would include political structural reforms because these are badly needed if the development goal of the Philippines moving up a notch from being an emerging market economy is to be achieved.
“To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.”
It was said last year that why would anyone want to be President of the Republic at this point in time? There is the pandemic, war in Europe, a looming global economic crisis and climate change.
Winston Churchill as a teenage boy, saw himself becoming Prime Minister and he charted a path to it. Reading his biography, the path wasn’t littered with victory, In fact, he experienced more defeats than victories but he won when it counted the most.
At that point in time when Hitler was about to overrun Europe and Chamberlain’s efforts at detente with Hitler failed, nobody wanted to come Prime Minister and so the decision was made to offer it to Churchill.
We all know what happened there.
Hopefully, he will be able to make his vision clear on July 25. Then we move forward from there.
Marcos has the mandate. He has the majority behind him. The opposition is in tatters. Not too many are given a second chance. It’s now up to him to deliver what the Filipino people expect of him.
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