Useless revamp

Public interest has indeed been aroused in the projected Cabinet revamp announced by Mala-cañang. But it is not because people anticipate that the much needed changes they have been longing for are at long last forthcoming. It is because they are being treated to another distasteful game of politics.

Keeping the details of the revamp a “secret” does not look good and sound right at all. The image projected is that it is not a serious and well planned undertaking designed for the real benefit and welfare of the people. Of course it may generate some kind of excitement and tension but this is obviously only on the part of the incumbents who are being kept in the dark about their fate.

Amusing and queer are the attitudes and reactions of some Cabinet members rumored to be affected by the revamp. Their nervousness and tension plainly betray fear of losing their post akin to that of a child about to be deprived of ice cream or lollipop.

It is said that public service entails a lot of sacrifice. But our Cabinet members seem to belie this saying. Being so apprehensive of losing their jobs clearly show that their office has an irresistible magnet pulling them and rendering them completely incapable of letting go of it. There must really be something more to their motive than purely public service.

This is not an idle observation. One just has to look at the reaction of Cabinet members to the piece-meal announcement of the President on who will be affected by the revamp. There is a big sigh of relief and even undisguised elation on the face of those who will not be removed or who are “safe” in the meantime. The others who are not mentioned at all one way or the other remain on tenterhooks and must be having “sleepless nights”.

The President may be resorting to this kind of secrecy or piece meal style of announcing her moves, wittingly or unwittingly. Maybe and hopefully, this is her way of deciding whom to replace by simply finding out who among them hang on to their posts like blood-sucking leeches. If this is really her way, then it looks like a smart move. Now she knows whom to replace. Apparently, she may have to replace almost all of them.

Ordinarily a President does not overhaul her cabinet if it is performing well. So when a revamp is announced, it only means that the Cabinet’s performance is below par; that people are not satisfied with the kind of public service they are getting.

In the case of the present administration, this unsatisfactory performance is readily shown by the negative approval rating that the President has been receiving, according to the various credible surveys periodically conducted. Her performance is gauged by the quality of work that her Cabinet members are doing because they are considered as her alter egos. Obviously, based on the negative approval rating, there is really a need for a Cabinet shake up.

Hence, if her Cabinet members are really motivated to render pure public service, the announcement by the President of the projected Cabinet revamp should have prompted them to immediately tender their irrevocable resignation so as to give the President a free hand in overhauling her team. This should be the reaction of cabinet officials who have the best interest of public service in mind. Unfortunately, none of the incumbent cabinet secretary has done that. Power must really be intoxicating and corrupting their sense of delicadeza.

With only two years left in her turbulent Presidency, a cabinet revamp is perhaps the last and the best chance for the President to leave a more acceptable legacy of good governance that people will somehow remember instead of the various anomalies and corrupt acts that have rocked her administration.

Unfortunately she may be squandering this opportunity by playing politics again in her projected cabinet revamp. The timing and the officials to be replaced and/or retained as well as the prospective appointees or replacements glaringly show the hand of politics directing her moves once more.

The very announcement emanating from Malacañang confirms this observation. The revamp is apparently triggered by the impending expiration of the one year ban on the appointment to government posts of losing senatorial candidates. Very intriguing if not alarming also is the report that the revamp has something to do with the forthcoming retirement from the military service of AFP Chief of Staff Esperon.  Then Executive Secretary Ermita himself said that “loyalty” and performance are the main factors in the President’s decision to sack or retain cabinet officials.

Hence we will have more of the same faces that have dominated the scene for most of the President’s stint in Malacañang — faces that have been rejected by the people in the last elections and others who have obviously contributed to the negative disapproval rating of the President. The signs do not really augur well for a real, honest to goodness cabinet revamp.

For a more meaningful revamp, the President should replace officials who have been with her from the start and who have apparently contributed to the public’s disenchantment with her administration. They are really the ones that should be replaced. They are Gonzalez in the DOJ, Puno in DILG, Mendoza in the DOTC, Ebdane in the DPWH, to name a few. She should also replace those who are appointed merely for political accommodation and reward. Otherwise the revamp will be useless.

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