“We hope that good economics will thwart bad politics after the noise dies down in the acrimonious mid-term elections”
LOST in the welter of political noise occasioned by the official start of the campaign for 12 senators of the realm, the exchange of infantile barbs, and the persistence of newbies in the HoR to proceed with the impeachment trial where everybody and his mother try to decipher the meaning of “forthwith,” are transitions in government that for better or for worse will change the face and pace of this administration as it enters the second half of its reign.
Though Jimmy Bautista’s leadership over the single most important department insofar as urban dwellers and workers are concerned has been marked by praiseworthy achievements like the privatization of the operations of the NAIA complex and the dedicated bus lane in busy EDSA, personal health concerns have taken over his desire to preside over transport modernization.
Jimmy leaves the DoTr with untarnished reputation, the same hallmark of his many years in the private sector.
President Marcos should be credited with his appointment of someone young and quite energetic, who knows how to weld private sector premium on efficiency with the need to cajole effectiveness from an oft slow-paced bureaucracy.
Vince Dizon is a shot in the arm for this administration which is reaching its second half soon with little to show by way of meaningful change in the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens.
While vital agencies in the transport department are always apples in the eye of both politicians and vested interests, one would hope that Vince is given a free hand by the president in forming his team.
Oftentimes, leadership of Cabinet-level departments are hobbled by presidential appointees in line agencies they need to supervise.
Just as we salute Jimmy Bautista for a job well done and wish him well as he relaxes in privacy, we likewise hope Vince Dizon is able to cut through the many Gordian knots that prevent important projects to proceed with necessary haste.
Time is running out for Build Better More that hopes to surpass the record of Duterte’s Build, Build, Build where Dizon was the spark plug.
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Just as important in the success of an administration is communications.
This administration is about to set a record of having four press secretaries in the short three years that it has been in power.
First there was lawyer Trixie Angeles, who has become a vocal critic of the administration. Then another lawyer – Cheloy Velicaria Garafil, who is now happy in her posting in Taiwan as our resident representative, concurrently chairperson of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office.
Next came broadcaster Cesar Chavez, who is about to be replaced, sources from the grapevine tell us, by another broadcast journalist.
President Noynoy Aquino’s time saw a new style in presidential communications management, a three-headed hydra with a broadcast journalist, a lawyer, and a corporate guy sharing the multi-faceted responsibility of the press secretary’s office.
President Rodrigo Duterte named a broadcast journalist to head presidential communications, one who lasted throughout his term.
While changing of the guard is to be expected in a highly stressful job such as managing the flow of information from the palace to the public, four press secretaries in three years is probably a record in post martial law presidencies.
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We hear from the palace woodwork that other transitions are about to happen. There could be a leadership change in one of the oldest Cabinet posts in existence.
From the time of Emilio Aguinaldo’s short-lived presidency to the Commonwealth of Manuel Luis Quezon, through the Third Republic and the present, this department has been a constant.
Then there is a relatively new Cabinet level agency created by law during the time of President GMA, the first head of which was named by her successor, President Noynoy Aquino.
Changes, long whispered about, will soon materialize, we are told.
With the changing of the President’s guard, one can only hope that meaningful transformations will be forthcoming.
We live in very dynamic times in an inter-connected world where external developments occur fast, and we need to keep in step.
Having been left out by many of our peers in a region where once we were looked upon as a leader, we can only hope that the President chooses well as he reaches half-time.
More than that, we hope that good economics will thwart bad politics after the noise dies down in the acrimonious mid-term elections.