EDITORIAL - Changes

At the Department of Justice, a "white paper" is circulating, denigrating Undersecretary Jose Calida. Malacañang declared the other day that Calida is the acting secretary of justice in the absence of Simeon Datumanong, who is expected to quit the Cabinet soon to run for Congress. Datumanong had designated both Calida and Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez as acting secretaries.

And that’s just in one department. Mar Roxas is also leaving the Department of Trade and Industry to run for Congress in the coming elections. At least four other Cabinet members are expected to resign soon to seek elective office in May 2004.

These movements could jeopardize the delivery of services to the public. Government operations are disrupted enough by pre-election politicking. Confusing changes such as the one at the justice department can only worsen the situation.

The administration has only a little more than six months to achieve its program targets. Some administration officials are working under the assumption that President Arroyo will enjoy six more years in office, but there are government workers who aren’t so sure. Uncertainty over the May elections has added to the disruption of public services.

Whatever the President’s chances are in 2004, the administration cannot let six months go to waste. The President has said often enough that three years is too short for her administration to rack up significant achievements. All she wants, she said, is to lay the groundwork for development and sustained growth.

This isn’t going to happen if go-vernment services get bogged down in election fever in the coming months. It takes several months before new Cabinet secretaries can even fully familiarize themselves with their jobs. With the ongoing election-related changes, new appointees will need to take crash courses in running executive departments. Public services are bound to be affected by such changes.

Malacañang, which is also busy with the President’s election bid, must see to it that Cabinet changes will create minimal disruption in public ser-vices. The mess at the justice department, however, bodes of ugly things to come.