P-Noy steps out of his comfort zone

Shortly after his election last year, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III immediately formed his own “talent search” committee to look for men and women who could help him fulfill his campaign promise of a better future for Filipinos through good governance. It was indeed a tough task to form the official family of the country’s first bachelor President.    

Out of the available 22 Cabinet posts with portfolios, or those that have line departments, P-Noy was able to fill the entire slate, except for three. The Chief Executive named three of his Cabinet members in an “acting” capacity only. They were Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje, and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Since the three Cabinet officials were not yet permanent in their respective positions, the Palace did not submit their names to the Commission on Appointments (CA) for confirmation.

Baldoz is among the appointees of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who were absorbed by the Aquino administration. A career executive, Baldoz was the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration before P-Noy named her as “acting” Labor secretary. However, a few months later, obviously satisfied with her performance and track record, P-Noy finally issued a permanent appointment to Baldoz. The apolitical Baldoz easily breezed through the CA confirmation process.

It was different in the case of the DILG and DENR posts which were initially contested in the distribution of the spoils of victory among people who claim to be behind P-Noy’s election into office.

In the case of the DILG post, Vice President Jejomar Binay had publicly expressed his preference to help in P-Noy’s Cabinet by heading the department where he could apply his almost two decades of experience as Makati City mayor. However, not being part of the original team that catapulted P-Noy to the Palace, Binay was instead given a Cabinet-ranked post as presidential adviser on housing and later on as concurrent presidential adviser for migrant workers.

The DILG post was instead given to an equally very experienced former local government executive, ex-Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo. Even with great credentials as a winner of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for his innovative leadership as a local government official, it was not enough, however, for Robredo to bag right away the DILG post on permanent basis.

Robredo was one of the LP’s campaign strategists during the May 10 presidential elections. P-Noy admitted in public though that basic differences in their style of doing things were holding him back from appointing Robredo as full-time DILG secretary.

Though serving in an “acting” capacity only, Robredo showed his kind of leadership at the DILG where he exercises direct supervision of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), among its attached agencies. Robredo is currently looking into the alleged VIP treatment being given to members of the Ampatuan clan led by former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan who are all detained at the BJMP-run Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while undergoing trial for the Maguindanao massacre.

Speaking of the ARMM, Robredo is the one carrying the ball to galvanize support for P-Noy’s controversial campaign in Congress to postpone the ARMM elections set this August.

On the other hand, the DENR post was supposedly allotted to former Bukidnon Rep. Neric Acosta who ran but lost as senatorial candidate in P-Noy’s Liberal Party (LP) ticket. But since there is a one-year ban on losing candidates being appointed to any government position, Acosta et al. sat it out until it lapsed last May 10.

In Paje’s case, he was one of the undersecretaries at the DENR when P-Noy picked him to head the department. Paje rose through the ranks at the DENR which he, a fresh graduate of forestry from the University of the Philippines, joined in 1982 as a project evaluator for environment. While at DENR, Paje was one of the government scholars who were sent to the United States to further their studies on public administration at Harvard University as well as take other environmental policy courses.  

A career executive official, Paje quietly worked in P-Noy’s Cabinet fully aware of the tentativeness of his appointment as “acting” DENR secretary. During all this time, Paje shepherded the Environmental Management Bureau to complete the geo-hazard map to guide both the national and local governments on areas prone to landslides and heavy flooding.

The latest feather in Paje’s cap was putting into final print P-Noy’s “Tahanan ng Ating Lahi” to propel the massive National Greening Program (NGP) of his administration. No less than P-Noy led the launching of the NGP under Executive Order 26 which he signed last Feb. 24. This massive greening program targets to plant 1.5 billion trees on 1.5 million hectares until the end of P-Noy’s term in June 2016.

Eleven months into office as “acting” secretaries, Robredo and Paje proved to P-Noy that they deserved their appointments on permanent basis. The President announced last week his decision to formalize the stay of Robredo and Paje in his Cabinet. Their names will be submitted finally to the CA for confirmation before the 15th Congress adjourns sine die its first regular sessions on June 9.

Having shown their no-nonsense dedication to their work, it wasn’t surprising that P-Noy decided to keep Robredo at the DILG and Paje at the DENR, finally giving them their respective Cabinet portfolios last week.

Beyond politics, P-Noy’s decision on the well-deserved appointments of Robredo and Paje showed that he is also beginning to feel more at ease to work with Cabinet advisers who do not necessarily move around in his comfort zone.

It should be worth watching the shift of things to come as P-Noy steps out of his comfort zone.