Not even 100 days into his administration and Marcos continues to be bedeviled by the problem that is his Executive Secretary. Unfortunately, Marcos doesn’t seem to have the political will to fire Vic Rodriguez.
Despite the release of the draft Administrative Order No. 1, which was supposed to define his new role as Presidential Chief of Staff, and which Marcos supposedly disapproved, on the recommendation of Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, the Office of the Press Secretary confirmed yesterday that the same AO No. 1 was signed by the President but no copy was made public except for the suppposedly pertinent details of the same being made part of the press statement.
Malacanan doesn’t seem to know what its doing. This is unacceptable because it makes them look like amateurs. PNoy, in his early days, earned the distinction of his government being described as a student council. What could this government be when the public can’t see a definite direction of where it’s going?
Mind you, this all happened just as the President is to depart on a working visit to the US. Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez was invterviewed by CNN and he couldn’t even give a definite list of meetings Marcos would have with other leaders in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly. Nothing looks organized but it looks like the advance party in New York is led by the Presidential son, if we go by the reports of the vlogger who’s in with the administration.
The Palace communications team can’t seem to make heads or tails of their job as well. The memorandum of the Presidential Legal Counsel, including that of the AO drafted supposedly by Rodriguez, leaked on Friday afternoon.
Yesterday, the initial press statement of Rodriguez about his resignation was posted on his Facebook account first. There seems to be this focus on Rodriguez being an elected official when in fact, he’s not. I wonder where he gets the gall to upstage his principal given his is an appointive post. Why couldn’t the comms team correct this error given that it doesn’t do the Presidential image good since it makes him look weak by not being in control of the narrative? The OPS, as it appears, is also serving Vic Rodriguez and not the President.
But the more important question is, who would be willing to serve as Executive Secretary under this organizational set-up?
Think about it. There is now the Presidential Chief of Staff. There is the Special Assistant to the President and there is the head of the Presidential Management Staff. All are supposed to provide support services to the Office of the President. It’s very clear that the only purpose of AO No. 1 is to render the Office of the Executive Secretary powerless because Rodriguez isn’t occupying the post anymore.
No matter how and where you look at it, there is nothing good which comes out for the President in this situation. He is supposedly the most powerful man in the country but he looks absolutely powerless in this case. The optics looks very bad.
The optics could get worse in New York if there’s no set schedule of meetings with other leaders who are attending the opening of the UN General Assembly.
There is the also the matter of the US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeing on September 20, to decide on another rate hike due to the inflation rate. The consensus is it will be another 75 basis points rate hike which means another round of depreciation for the Peso. The opposition is going to have a field day throwing brickbats at Marcos on the issue even if it’s not directly attributable to him. The Peso is forecast to go down to as low as P58.00 after the announcement is made. No one seems to have done a cost-benefit analysis of the US trip. It can easily be classified as a junket for government officials and select business leaders. I’m betting the comms group hasn’t thought about this yet and has no ready statement when it becomes needed.
Then there’s the usual protests from the group of Loida Nicolas Lewis and Ruben Carranza, the former PCGG commissioner who’s also based in New York, along with the local chapters of leftist-militant groups who are also aligned with Lewis. For sure, they will try to make a scene to embarass Marcos once he arrives at the UN complex.
Marcos definitely won’t meet with Biden as the latter is already in the UK for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. His best bet would be a meeting with Vice-President Kamala Harris, if she’s attending the opening of the UNGA. If not, then Marcos will have to settle for the US Ambassador to the UN.
Bottomline, if Marcos is all about the optics, why is it that he can’t get his act together in his own office while trying to score points delivering a speech at the UN, which also doesn’t serve much purpose given the rest of the world is busy dealing with the global economic crisis?
This is what Duterte was referring to about the issue of leadership. Sara couldn’t see it as she was blinded by her anger at SBG and Cayetano. Not all those with the provenance can exercise effective leadership.
It’s not too late for Marcos but he has to level up his game. But given how things have gone so far, it would be too much to expect for him to can Rodriguez and get a fresh start.
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