What has always been an opportunity for government officials and their spouses to show off their fancy Filipiniana wear now stands to be lost. President Rodrigo Duterte has said those who would be in Monday’s State of the Nation Address only need to be in business attire—none of the red-carpet shows replete with descriptions of the dress’ designer and the material with which it is made.
This is similar to what happened during the President’s inauguration on June 30, where he insisted that a short guest list, simple meals and a 17-minute speech suffice.
Another related action is Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea’s memorandum of July 15, communicating the President’s directive to all government employees to refrain from addressing President Duterte as “His Excellency” and members of the Cabinet as “Honorable.”
These are concrete things that indicate the new administration’s aversion to unnecessary displays of affluence and power. They are heartening to know, but whether they point to bigger things or are just interesting directives that stand by themselves is something we cannot tell just yet.
After all, did not former President Benigno Aquino III also say, during his inaugural address six years ago, that he would be barring the use of sirens on vehicles because they revealed a culture of entitlement among officials? We, whom Mr. Aquino called his bosses, cheered that, thinking the gesture was a sign of more good things to come. Over the next few years, however, we were dismayed to discover it was nothing but a token pronouncement as Mr. Aquino squandered his political capital, persecuting his enemies while coddling his friends, denouncing corrupt practices while concocting schemes of his own.
And so we welcome President Duterte’s early gestures that appear to shun shallow pageantry. It does not mean, however, that we would be content with these. We will continue to watch the administration’s succeeding moves, what it does and does not do against what it says.
We had long been promised change, and we won’t settle for the superficial kind.
