Malacañang: 1 step forward — 2 steps back

In a season of Cabinet reshuffles, the people who deserve to be promoted are Executive Secretary Ed Ermita and DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno.

Mayor Jojo Binay should actually kiss the butt of these guys for successfully promoting the great achievements of Binay as Mayor of Makati.

After suspending Binay for 60 days, people in media who are Makati residents started to make comparisons and unanimously began to praise the yellow card, free hospitalization, superb facilities of the Makati Hospital, free movies for senior citizens etc.

Ermita and Puno also deserve praise for succeeding to do what no oppositionist could do in the last six months. The Dual genius actually reunited, resurrected, and revived an almost dead opposition.

Ermita and Puno also succeeded in launching the senatorial slate of the opposition, drawing out Cory Aquino, giving her air time and an opportunity to take a dig at her single biggest regret in politics, launching the political career of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

To top it all, no explanation on the part of DILG Usec Andanar can explain away the now established notion that the government is set on destroying the opposition before the elections. To be fair however, Usec Andanar deserves praise for doing a very tough job and doing it with class. Maybe we can promote him as DILG Secretary after Puno is promoted to Lala Land.

Ed Ermita on the other hand can concentrate with his legal defense on why he wrote a suspension order that only the sitting President can execute. That although he may have reason to think that he’s the little president, suspending Binay is not part of his self-appointed rights.

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When I wrote my column "Wouldn’t it be great if . . ." Friday last week, we received a lot of positive response from the subjects as well as readers who apparently saw as much logic as well as amusement in our list of cabinet positions and candidates.

Little did we realize that a cabinet reshuffle was supposedly being designed. I chose the words "supposedly" and "designed" because experience has shown that announcements of cabinet reshuffles in the Philippines are dependent largely on popularity and necessity.

Given the significance and impact that cabinet reshuffles have in governance and business, it is suspicious that Malacañang operatives did not treat the matter with particular importance meriting a special press conference or announcement.

Perhaps the intention was to slip it through the crack while everyone was so preoccupied with the siege of Mayor Binay. This way, many critics would miss what may be the first steps in setting up a pre-election fund raising machinery or a simple straightforward way of getting rid of deodorants doing such a great job, or obstacles to fund raising opportunities.

For example, LTFRB chairperson Len Bautista has been "promoted" to the position of Undersecretary at the Department of Transportation & Communication (DOTC).

From a distance, congratulations might be in order. In reality however, Len Bautista has been neutralized from waging her determined campaign to organize and regulate the public transport sector. Her being tough and uncompromising has been publicly criticized by the bosses at the DOTC the same way LTO head Anneli Lontoc has continuously been frustrated by the DOTC gang from rationalizing fees, charges, and services of the LTO.

Both ladies will, reportedly, be replaced by XGENs as in X generals. Len Bautista’s replacement is former police general Tom Lantion who has been holed up in the office of DOTC Secretary Larry Mendoza as a consultant.

Lantion is certainly a charismatic low key kinda guy, but the question is can he and will he do a better job? How will he stand up to the pressures of XGENs who own many of the bus companies and their kabits or illegal operators without franchise?

How will Lantion fare in the battle between insurance companies, brokers, and politicians such as mayors and congressmen who are fighting over the insurance policies to be sold to transport operators?

How will Lantion deal with pressure from a Balimbing Congressman currently lobbying for the restoration of business interests of two XGENs that were dropped from the list of the LTFRB?

Given some of the public trials that he has witnessed in government, is Lantion fit to fight a battle Bautista never got a chance to fight? What about fund raising realities in relation to the coming elections.

The sad thing in Bautista’s case is the fact that after all her efforts, there is even a private sector spiel being passed that she got sent off to Lala land because she favored an insurance broker named Atayde who allegedly cornered the insurance market of LTFRB. To add insult to injury, Bautista is even being alleged to own a Jaguar sedan.

Bautista’s XGEN enemies are obviously experts in warfare. A green Jaguar bearing the license plate of a 2nd hand Isuzu trooper owned by Len Bautista’s brother was photographed in front of her house to make it appear she owned it. Was it Shakespeare who wrote: What a wondrous web we weave, when first we try to deceive!

As I told the source of the spiel, the current standard model for corruption is not a 4-door Jaguar but a 2 door Red Ferrari 575M Maranello purchased for US$220,000 by a lowly undersecretary.

As if to hammer in the last nail to her coffin, certain employees at the LTFRB openly rejoiced over the departure of Bautista. If the Ombudsman really wants to score points, they should have private investigators posted at the LTFRB and crucify these self-serving public servants who make money by moonlighting as sales agents for applicants and transport owners.

In the case of the LTO, I wonder how Malacañang would announce the alleged promotion of Assistant Secretary and LTO boss Anneli Lontoc even before a suitable replacement has been found.

It all seems so illogical to make such an announcement in haste when there is no great need to do so. No one was fired, no urgent vacancy to fill, no scandal to address or cover up. So why the haste?

Is it because the suitable candidate would have to meet sensitive requirements and deliver certain expectations required for the election war chest of the administration? Or is it because all parties of influence inside Malacañang are not giving anybody any room in the fight for income opportunities at the LTO?

Lontoc has steadfastly stood her ground in implementing and following policies at the LTO. She’s a no-nonsense lady who does the big picture even if crabs regularly bite her toes.

This unfortunately has earned her enemies such as congressmen and justices who have long left office but insist on flashing their privilege with # 8, 9 & 16 plates. Or self-proclaimed VIPs who want to change plate numbers the same way they change lovers or underwear.

Unfortunately for Lontoc, she has long been a square peg in a round hole suspiciously appointed out of spite by the president when she visited the LTO office and got pissed off.

Some wonder if Lontoc was posted to the LTO to get her out of Malacañang where even more questionable matters couldn’t pass through her. Unfortunately, Lontoc does not possess the street smart and experience in dealing with decades of documentary and tax related criminality in the LTO.

In her case, it has become the classic "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". With her hands tied by those she served, she may have been better off walking the plank than hanging herself.

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Secretary Arthur Yap must have some cosmic misalignment. At the time he was being accused of graft and publicly humiliated, I reassured him that the truth will ultimately come out if he’s innocent. And it did. Yap slowly got back into Malacañang doing odds and ends for the President such as job generation, and staff work.

He’s finally been reappointed as Agriculture Secretary at the worst possible time!

Congress is currently turning into a battleground where members of both camps are questioning a proposed P8 billion feeding program to battle malnutrition. Yap’s office will be the center of the program in terms of rice imports, distribution, etc.

With elections coming up, and given the DA’s history of being suspected accessory to electoral crime, Yap will now have to defend the P8 billion proposal even before anything has happened.

While Yap defends the matter, he will certainly be on the stand regarding what he does or does not know about Usec. Joc-Joc Bolante’s fund management, ownership of a Ferrari, and which part of that money belonged to the United States Government and if any was used in the election of GMA.

Does GMA really have absolute trust in Yap’s abilities or is Yap another loyal student walking the plank? To be quite honest, God may have done Secretary Panganiban a major favor.