Ping and Kiko

Former Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan could perhaps take hints from his erstwhile colleague, ex-Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on what awaits him in joining the Cabinet of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III. Pangilinan was sworn into office last Tuesday as presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernization.   

Whew! What a long job title! So, let us just call this newly created Cabinet post using its acronym PAFSAM. Some others though simply call him as food security czar.

Much earlier, President Aquino appointed Lacson to a specially created new post called as the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, or OPARR. Lacson is being called “rehab czar” for short, supposedly in charge of the rehab for the disaster-stricken provinces hit by super typhoon Yolanda.

Six months after Yolanda struck our country on November 8 last year, Lacson admitted the government’s rehab program for Yolanda-stricken areas has not gained much headway. Since he was appointed on December 1 last year, Lacson rued his OPARR could not move any faster the national government-led rehabilitation efforts to substantially ease the plight of survivors and victims of the Yolanda disaster.

Lacson did not mince words to spread around the blame for this seeming lack of progress in the national government implementation of Yolanda recovery and rehabilitation programs and projects. Without mentioning names, Lacson merely pointed to two unidentified Cabinet secretaries who have been dragging the OPARR in doing its job at faster pace.

Funding is not a problem because international as well as local support for the Yolanda rehabilitation program continues to pour in. In fact, much of the international funding goes directly to non-government organizations (NGOs) implementing their own recovery and rehabilitation assistance to Yolanda areas. But Lacson as OPARR chief has no power over the use of these funds that are channeled to the national government.

Saying he could only do so much under Memorandum Order (MO) No. 62 that created the OPARR on December 6 last year, Lacson noted his job description also limited his powers and authority on government line agencies. Under this MO 62, P-Noy designated Lacson as the “over-all manager and coordinator” of rehabilitation, recovery, and reconstruction efforts of government departments, agencies, and instrumentalities in the Yolanda-affected areas, namely, Samar, Leyte, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Iloilo and Palawan.

Although he, too, has Cabinet-rank post, the OPARR chief is not exactly on equal footing with department secretaries who are the immediate heads of these line agencies placed under the “oversight” functions of Lacson. True to form, Lacson frankly expressed in public his “frustration” specifically with two uncooperative Cabinet officials. He merely described the two Cabinet officials as “dedma,” street lingo for an unresponsive person.

If we examine how Lacson does his work at the OPARR, according to him, the rehabilitation is being done on a cluster framework approach. The OPARR formed five clusters each headed by a Cabinet secretary. These are: Infrastructure cluster headed by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson; Social services cluster headed by Department of Social and Welfare (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman; Resettlement cluster headed by the Vice President Jejomar Binay, in his capacity as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council; Support services cluster co-chaired by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad and Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority; and, the Livelihood cluster headed by Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo.

Earlier, Lacson and Singson have tangled over the construction of bunkhouses. But eventually they came to an understanding of how to go about it. So that leaves four Cabinet Cluster heads who could be currently getting Lacson’s goat.

 The OPARR chief confessed he has not reported yet to P-Noy about the two uncooperative Cabinet officials. We could only guess how P-Noy would react after Lacson went ahead griping to media his beef against the two presidential alter-egos before reporting it directly to him. Washing dirty linen in public could give Lacson a dose of his own medicine.

While he may not be a card-bearing member of P-Noy’s Liberal Party (LP), Lacson’s assumption of this Cabinet post certainly made him part of the official family. In the case of Pangilinan, his being LP (campaign manager during the May 2010 senatorial elections) certainly will make his work as PAFSAM easier.

Under Executive Order 175, P-Noy gave also “oversight” functions to Pangilinan on four attached agencies of the Department of Agriculture (DA), namely, the National Food Authority, National Irrigation Administration, Philippine Coconut Authority and Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority. All four DA agencies have been transferred to the Office of the President.

As erstwhile chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, Pangilinan made no bones his interest of the DA post headed by LP stalwart, DA Secretary Proceso Alcala.

However, the former Quezon congressman obviously enjoys P-Noy’s trust and confidence. Even with Pangilinan as PAFSAM, Alcala remains the “primary point person” in the department.

It took a while before Pangilinan finally accepted a Cabinet post after his second term as senator ended in June last year. He has immersed in agricultural life in his own “Sweet Spring Country Farm” in Alfonso, Cavite where he tried his hand in organic farming. He is especially attached to his four-month old female pig named “Bacon” that freely roams the farm as mascot. 

Actively posting his farming adventure in his Facebook account, Pangilinan shared one funny anecdote about a dinner conversation with his seven-year-old son Miel about his going to the Cabinet after the Senate. The boy asked him: “Dad why go inside the Cabinet? You can’t breathe in there!”

For sure, Ping and Kiko, who are the latest to join P-Noy’s Cabinet at this late stage of the administration, will at best keep their noses clean until the coming 2016 elections.