Ambassador Albert Del Rosario is ‘recalled’ from Washington — who’ll be our next ambassador?

The President has just directed the "recall" of Ambassador Albert del Rosario, our envoy to Washington DC. What does this mean? The immediate question which arises is who’ll be nominated to be our next Ambassador to the United States.

Was this move suddenly decided upon? Or was it a long time coming? In any event, del Rosario will soon be coming home.

Nobody can say what precipitated the move, but too many whispers are circulating – so I won’t give credence to any of them.

It’s true that a few months ago, La Presidenta contemplated naming our former Ambassador to Beijing, the veteran career diplomat Willy Gaa, the next Ambassador. Gaa was by then already on his way to take up his old post, with the rank of Ambassador, of Consul General in Los Angeles where he is very popular. Subsequently he was designated Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Washington DC which was seen in some quarters as preparatory to his taking over. The truth is that GMA had confided to me weeks earlier about her considering Gaa to be the new Ambassador.

Del Rosario, probably feeling threatened by Gaa’s presence in his Embassy, formally requested his "replacement" with somebody else. To Willy’s surprise, he was summarily told to come back to Manila where he has been cooling his heels quietly, wondering about his fate.

Will this be his chance? Or is GMA now thinking of someone else? In this government, nothing is ever a sure thing – even if it has already been announced in the newspapers.

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It is not the governmental setup or structure which Sen. Edgardo Angara says is "archaic" and which according to him has hindered development and has kept the nation from reaping the benefits of genuine independence.

Angara correctly asserts that we still have the same administrative setup and the same kind of almost feudalistic system that existed since the Philippine Constitution was adopted in 1935.

If our national ills which appear to have metastasized over the last forty years, are to be honestly diagnosed, at least three principal causes immediately come to mind: (1) pervasive graft and corruption at practically all levels of the national and local governments; (2) endless "politics" engaged in by both those who hold the reins of power and the political opposition down to the local level; and (3) a bloated bureaucracy infested by incompetent, abusive and corrupt department and agency heads.

Thus, it is not the governmental setup or structure that is the culprit for our ills and woes, but the kind of national and local officials who run our national and local governments.

The malady of graft and corruption was not as pervasive and malignant during the Commonwealth Era up to the early years of the Republic as it is now. Since 1946 to the present we have had no less than a dozen anti-graft administrative bodies created by ten presidents including GMA. Since 1988 we have had the supposedly independent constitutional anti-graft body, the Office of the Ombudsman which is endowed with awesome powers. Yet, over the years since the Office of the Ombudsman was created 18 years ago and despite the proud boasts of achievements racked up by that office, graft and corruption has escalated instead, resulting in billions of pesos lost attributable to graft.

Is this the fault of the governmental setup or structure? Or the kind of officials in the government appointed under the Jacksonian "spoils system" and transactional politics now motivating new appointments in the executive and judicial branches of the government?

In her independence speech at the Luneta yesterday, La Presidenta GMA called for an end to politicking, a call she has been endlessly reiterating. The problem is that her call was addressed to the political Opposition which has not, up to now, accepted the "legitimacy" of her Presidency. What’s sad is that this politicking is practised not only by the political Opposition. The GMA government’s appointments to important government positions are themselves politically-motivated. That is why we have corrupt and incompetent department and agency heads endorsed by Malacañang’s strongest political allies. These politically-endorsed appointees in turn bring their own greedy camp followers into their offices. Hence, we have a bloated, less competent and indolent bureaucracy. When she took over the Presidency in 2001, GMA told me that the biggest problem she inherited was the awful bureaucracy. "So fix it," I had suggested. To be fair, she said she would try but it was difficult.

According to Civil Service Commission career personnel today, never before in the history of that constitutional body have they seen such blatant violations of Civil Service rules and regulations in the appointment of people in the government, as they’re now witnessing.

What happened to the promised reforms?

In fine, it is not the governmental setup or structure but the mentality, culture and attitude of those who govern that must be held responsible for our stunted development.

A change from our present form of presidential type of government to a parliamentary form of government with the same rascals and vermin infesting the leadership and matrix of government will not cure our woes or redeem our society. Will the creation of a unicameral National Assembly under a parliamentary form of government for example result in the elimination of the pork barrel?

I’ve said in this corner, time and again, that we don’t need any instant "formula" like high-speed Cha-cha to save our Republic. We don’t need a change of system – we need a change in men and women, meaning not just a different crew at the fore, but new moral attitudes and a determination to do good. Even a number of reprobates like some of those in the current leadership and membership of the ruling political elite can reform, just as Saul the persecutor and murderer of Christians was transformed by a bolt of lightning from heaven on the Road to Damascus, blinded by Christ’s admonition "Why persecutest thou me?"

When he recovered his vision by visiting the Disciple Ananias in The Street Called Straight, Saul became Paul and went straight – becoming one of the Church’s greatest Saints and Apostles.

Of course, we cannot expect the Lord to dive-bomb with lightning and convert everyone as He did Paul – but there’s hope for everyone.

Charter change? Let’s do it the slow but sure way. But the surest way to change the Filipino for the better, in every way, is through Education. Banish ignorance and every voter inclined to "sell" his or her ballot will realize that only the ballot, wisely cast, will set us all free. First freedom from Ignorance. Then, will inevitably follow, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

Educate our people, Madam President, not rage against announcements about a shortage of classrooms. Bring back our good teachers from the diaspora, and train more. For it is only by the light of learning, equalling the Pillar of Fire which led the Chosen People through the darkness of the desert night, which will bring our disappointed nation to the Promised Land.