EDITORIAL - Balili lot: A matter of trust or the lack of it

Some sectors have taken to calling the Balili lot controversy a fiasco. It is not correct to say so. According to most standard definitions, a fiasco is a complete failure, and that is not exactly the case here.

The governor, convinced that Capitol's development plans for the lot far outweigh the present irritant, is not giving up on its purchase of the lot. And frankly, after a discussion with editors and columnists last Wednesday, the case isn't without legal or practical remedies.

But it also emerged clearly that the governor will have to institute several changes in the manner of her governance. For one thing, she cannot henceforth be too trusting of anyone, regardless of whether someone happens to be a political ally or a hired underling.

People, wittingly or unwittingly, are bound to slip up. And when one happens to be working for the government, the consequences of the slipup are bound to affect more people in a bigger way than just personal pain or inconvenience.

A minor incident during the meeting between the governor and the journalists clearly underscores this: Prior to the meeting, Governor Gwen Garcia told her staff to bring a logbook essential to her presentation. They did not and had to go running to get it.

So if people can slip ip over what they have been told just minutes earlier, they are bound to slip up anywhere. Good if the mistakes are innocent. But what if they are deliberate maneuvers being passed off as slipups.

Another area where the governor cannot be too trusting is in the way people go about their jobs. During questioning, her appraisal team made it very clear that they were unwilling to go the extra mile.

It was very clear from the team's insistence on just sticking to their job descriptions that they were unwilling to describe the color of the wall just because their assignment is just to look at the picture frame.

Had the team done a diligence check at the Balili site in the name of public interest and reported to the governor what they saw outside of what they had been tasked to do, perhaps there would not have been this controversy in the first place. But you just can't trust anyone.