A Cabinet revamp may be timely

President GMA was practicing at the Malacañang music room a song she was expected to sing in a public engagement later in the day. For some reason, her voice that morning was extra soft, lacking fire and passion and the one practicing her told her so. Some Palace officials overheard the music teacher’s comment and so they volunteered their own unsolicited suggestion.

"We know how you can have fire and passion, even anger in your voice," they told the President. "Just think of Secretaries Montemayor and Braganza."

Of course everybody laughed, specially the President. It is common knowledge at the Palace that the two have become the President’s pet peeves. She is often agitated enough by the inability of the two Cabinet members to keep up with the killing pace she is known for in tackling the nation’s business.

There is no doubt the President is worried that the weakest links in her administration are these two and they happen to be on top of the key programs that will make or break her Presidency. Indeed, the President herself made public her lack of confidence in her Secretary of Agriculture when she announced that she would hold office at the Department of Agriculture to make sure her programs moved. He was just too dumb to notice and do the right thing.

Obviously, she has more fish to fry, so to speak than babysit a Cabinet member. It does not help that comparisons are made with previous high powered occupants of the office, the most recent being Sen. Ed Angara. Ed’s deputy, Ding Panganiban could have done better.

With manufacturing and the export sector down in the dumps, a domestic-centered economy brings us right smack into the countryside where agriculture is key. If we are to survive the current world economic crisis, government must be able to produce a few miracles in the agricultural sector.

After almost a year in office, the administration’s performance in this sector is lackluster at best. Food costs in this country are still among the highest in the region, one reason why there is a hue and cry for higher minimum wages. That means the agriculture department has done nothing to improve the sector’s efficiency. And where are the "Ate Glo" rolling stores? Bad as Erap was, his Erap stores were all over, helping the poor make ends meet or at least, giving the impression that they were helping.

The situation seems even worse in agrarian reform. At a time when social stability is terribly important, we haven’t seen much progress in the very vital area of agrarian reform. In fact, it seems the leadership of the department entrusted with the function is very much at odds with the very constituents of the program. The President may be forced to take a more direct hand if she is to live up to the expectations people may have from the daughter of the President who first gave us agrarian reform.

It is obvious that the image of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration will be much improved by a timely Cabinet revamp that will seek to bring more vigor in the key departments along the Quezon Memorial Circle. The current secretary of agriculture is no doubt a decent man with a social conscience, but all these are not nearly enough to get the job done at this time of crisis. The agricultural sector needs a more tested manager who can provide a more credible leadership in a flagship department.

There is no doubt the President is aware of her problems in these departments. Typically Pinoy, she does not want to hurt anyone’s feelings by firing anybody. It is time she acts like the decisive chief executive we expect her to be. Her own credibility and the nation’s welfare are at stake. She needs someone of the caliber of Education Secretary Raul Roco at Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. If only we could bring Bong Tanco back to life.

Stingy oil companies

As I wrote some days ago, local oil companies should pass on more of the price cuts from the soft world oil market to help boost consumer confidence and buying power. Our oil companies should stop acting as if they are still regulated and they are the regulators. More specifically, at the level of Raul Concepcion’s projection of an average oil price rollback of P1.37 per liter, 77 centavos of which represents the balance due in November and 60 centavos for December. In the US, consumers are getting a boost from falling oil prices.

The beneficial economic impact of timely oil price rollbacks at the right magnitude cannot be underestimated. The New York Times reports that "some economic models show that for every $1 decrease in the cost of a barrel of oil, American consumers gain about $5 billion in spending power. A drop from about $30 a barrel last year to about $20 a barrel over the next year would translate into about $50 billion in consumer spending power, or roughly the size of the tax rebate."

Economists expect the oil price cut to give consumers "a much- needed injection of cash just in time for the holiday shopping season." In the US, paying less for gasoline or home heating fuel means there is more money to spend on other things, like going to the movies, eating in restaurants and going shopping, economists say. "And if you can keep the consumer spending you can mitigate the effects of the slowing economy."

Soon may not be soon enough. Once Russia agrees to cut its production more substantially than the 50,000 barrels a day level it announced, OPEC will put their production cuts in effect and prices will start going up again. The local oil companies shouldn’t try to take advantage of the situation to fatten up their profits at the expense of everyone else. They must show oil deregulation works. Otherwise, even those of us who support deregulation may opt for some form of regulating the oil industry again. Petron must break from the cartel and lead the way.

White hair

Here’s another one on parenting from Dr. Ernie E.

When a middle-aged guy discovered his first gray hair he immediately wrote to his parents: "Dear Mom and Dad, You saw my first steps. You might want to experience this with me too." He taped the offending hair to the paper and mailed it.

His mother’s response, titled "Sonnet to a Hair," began: "It’s a trustworthy observation...That nothing can compare...In the process of aging...With finding the first gray hair..."

She then signed off with this observation: "That gray hair you sent us is NOT the first one you gave US!"

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])