A new batch of elected public officials began their terms this week, halfway into the current administration and nearly two months after the May 12 elections.
These officials in both the legislative and executive departments have a fresh three years to perform their respective mandates. Many of them are not new to the tasks, simply getting reelected, assuming posts they have occupied in the past, or taking over from their family members.
Whatever their origins, their respective constituencies have to live with their choices for the next three years.
One way to look at this beginning is that this is an opportunity for the new officials to assert their power and influence, and to attempt to recoup their investments made during the campaign. It’s payback time, too, for those who have opposed or antagonized them.
Many, like those in the Senate in the context of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, are awaiting their opportunity to show – no, flaunt – their colors and loyalties to certain personalities. This late in the day, some are still contemplating moving for the dismissal of the impeachment case, never mind that such is a move reserved for defense counsels instead of supposedly impartial senator-judges.
Elsewhere in the country, local officials could well be falling into the trap of thinking of their constituencies as fiefdoms, ready to quash opposition or criticism.
But there is another way of regarding the coming three years – that is, that it is a public trust, and that loyalties to themselves, their interests, or their political patrons must end if it clashes with the public good.
We wonder: what percentage of the officials just sworn in realize the magnitude and gravity of the oath they took a few days ago?
The next few days will allow the real story to unfold, and will decide whether these new batch of officials indeed think of the public as the ones they should serve, or the ones who should serve them. At any rate, we must let them know we are watching their actions and omissions.
This new set of officials must provide people real options and fresh ideas in governance instead of simply playing by the tired, old, and rotten rules.
