Political animals to start coming out early 2015

As the year 2014 draws to a close, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III let go two of his Cabinet officials one after the other, though for different reasons. Both Cabinet officials tendered their respective irrevocable resignations to President Aquino which made acceptance easier.

The Chief Executive accepted the resignation of embattled Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Dr. Enrique Ona last Dec. 19. Former senator and now Secretary Panfilo Lacson personally handed over to President Aquino his letter of resignation as presidential assistant for recovery and reconstruction (PARR) last Dec. 23.

Ona’s resignation took effect immediately while that of Lacson will be effective Feb. 10 next year. President Aquino earlier designated Health Undersecretary Dr. Janette Garin as acting DOH Secretary last October when Ona first went on official leave for a month supposedly for health reasons.

The President first appointed Garin as DOH undersecretary in July 2013. Her appointment was seen as a reward for her steadfast push for the controversial endorsement of the Reproductive Health (RH) measure that President Aquino signed into law in December 2012. Garin is a former Liberal Party (LP) ally of Aquino during the previous Congress. She used to be congresswoman from the first district of Iloilo. 

President Aquino later admitted Ona went on leave purportedly to enable the secretary to come up with a plausible explanation to the questioned DOH procurement of anti-pneumonia vaccines last year. With Ona’s fate hanging in the balance, President Aquino would later disclose to media the DOH chief also had to explain two other questionable procurement transactions. Thus, Ona’s continued stay in the Aquino Cabinet became untenable.

Sensing the noose getting tighter, Ona finally submitted his irrevocable resignation even before completing his extended official leave.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) reopened Ona’s case on the alleged anomalous purchase by DOH of its supply of anti-pneumonia vaccines two years ago. Subsequently, the DOJ secretary made yet another announcement that Ona is not off the hook yet. De Lima said the NBI would continue its investigation on the erstwhile DOH secretary on graft allegations against him.

The latest pronouncements in media finally pushed the 75-year-old Ona to break his silence and publicly blamed “politics” for his being eased out of the Cabinet. “I’m sure there is politics there, among other things,” Dr. Ona told The STAR. “I’m not a politician. Being a secretary of health is enough for me. I have absolutely no political ambition and that has been my solid position ever since,” Ona added.

Unlike Ona, Lacson prepared his own graceful exit out of the Aquino Cabinet. Among other things, Lacson recommended to President Aquino the transfer of functions of the OPARR to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). “We agreed in principle to wind up my duties as PARR by Feb. 10, when I shall have completed the transition to NDRRMC where the four-phase cycle of addressing disasters rightfully belongs,” Lacson disclosed.

This early, Lacson wanted out as rehabilitation czar, citing he has done his job and it was now time to transfer OPARR’s task to a permanent government agency like the NDRRMC. The OPARR was an ad hoc body that President Aquino created in December last year to coordinate the activities of the various government agencies and non-government organizations involved in the rehabilitation of areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Speaking of Cabinet changes, more secretaries with political plans are seen to step down from office in the next months. Getting ahead of political forecasts, it is safe to say this early, President Aquino will be losing more Cabinet members in the first half of 2015.

With less than a year and half left of his term, President Aquino would likely not stray from his comfort zone in appointing successors to vacancies in his Cabinet.

Coffee shop talk is rife with speculations on Lacson’s exit from the Cabinet as prelude to the ex-senator’s political plans in the coming May 2016 elections. Lacson curtly shoots down attempts by media to pin him down on his plans, and would always insist he has to insulate the OPARR from partisan politics.

While he has not discounted the possibility he may opt for a comeback bid at the Senate, Lacson likewise has not ruled out running for higher elective office. His first try for the presidency was unsuccessful. Lacson ran but lost in the May 2004 presidential elections while he was halfway through his first term at the Senate. Thus, he was able to serve the remainder of his term as senator. 

But there’s also talk that Lacson may stay in the Aquino Cabinet, this time as head of a department. The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief is reportedly being pushed to succeed incumbent Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II. As the presumptive presidential candidate of President Aquino’s LP in the 2016 elections, Roxas has to leave the Cabinet to campaign.

Of course, Vice President Jejomar Binay will have to make his decision to step down from the Cabinet sooner than later. Aside from De Lima, Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino are also reportedly eyeing a run for the Senate, just to name some.

For the Chinese, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep (or goat, whichever). The Chinese lunar calendar starts on Feb. 19. But all candidates for national post like those running for the Senate can file their certificates of candidacy third week of October 2015. 

Ahead of the goat, the political animals would start coming out as early as the first days and weeks of the new year in campaign mode, if they have not done so much earlier.

Happy new year to everyone!