EDITORIAL - New Year resolutions

If President Estrada still maintains a so-called "midnight Cabinet" after the revelations of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, he is even more foolish than his critics think. Singson, for many years the President’s drinking buddy who later became part of this unofficial Cabinet, plunged the administration into its worst crisis and made Joseph Estrada the first Asian leader to be impeached. What made Singson’s allegations credible was his known ties with this shadowy group known to keep the President company into the wee hours of the morning – a group that many suspected was involved in crucial policy-making in the highest levels of government.

Aprodicio Laquian had given the public a glimpse into the workings of this midnight Cabinet. Laquian had told journalists in jest that at 4 a.m. he was the only sober person left at Malacañang. For this revelation, Laquian was sacked as the President’s chief of staff last March. He has since returned to Canada but may one day go back to this country to testify in the President’s impeachment trial. Will he have kinder words this time about the man who fired him?

Malacañang officials led by outgoing Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora say that the President is now instituting reforms starting with himself. Maybe the President still can’t rise with the sun, but his working day now begins much earlier, his officials maintain. Zamora also said on Christmas Day that the midnight Cabinet is gone. The informal group came into being, Zamora explained, because the President was "too kind" to turn his friends away even when they came to visit him late at night.

Only a catatonic official won’t be forced to institute drastic changes in the crisis that has engulfed the nation. Reform is the buzzword at Malacañang in the coming year. It’s the President’s New Year resolution – a reformed Erap and a better admi-nistration. Even before his impeachment, however, the President had promised sweeping reforms. His cri-tics responded by saying his promise was too little, too late. As a new year dawns, the question on everyone’s mind is whether long delayed reforms can still save this presidency.