“The president’s performance is a function of the effectivity of the men and women to whom he has entrusted the myriad functions of government”
After several months of looking for a replacement, President Marcos Jr. has accepted the resignation of Alfredo Pascual as head of the Department of Trade and Industry.
I have heard about several people being approached by Malacanang officials and members of its team of economic advisers as early as late last year.
One very highly qualified person eventually declined, worried that his connections to one of the country’s biggest economic empires would place him in a difficult situation, not with divestment requirements, but wary that the usual suspicion by naysayers in the political and information community about “oligarchs” being placed in positions of power and influence would affect his performance.
Another highly qualified person experienced in finance and economics declined because his family was against, and he has set his sights on an elective position in the coming mid-term polls.
Someone who had held the post in previous governments now prefers the quiet anonymity of early retirement from the slings and arrows of political involvement.
Many friends in the business sector, including career professionals in the department, have complained early on about the performance of the recently resigned secretary, but we should no longer dwell on these.
Suffice it to say DTI is a very important part of the economic team of government, which includes. and is normally headed by the Department of Finance, NEDA, and the departments of trade and industry, agriculture, and tourism, with the independent Bangko Sentral in a very important resource engagement.
I have mentioned trade, agriculture and tourism because at this point these are the most critical to growing the economy. Foreign direct investments plus food security plus tourism create needed jobs and tames inflation.
Finance, through BIR and Customs and the setting up of best practices in financial management is of course pivotal.
Support services can come from efficiency in the infrastructure cluster of Public Works, Transportation, Communications and Energy. Without these sectors providing the necessary infrastructure to include reliability and fair pricing, the economic cluster cannot function properly.
This is not to downplay the importance of education, health, and social services, as well as labor and the migrant workers departments in the overall machinery needed for growth and equitable distribution, but these concerns are not central to the immediate topic of this column.
During those moments in the campaign of 2022, when my candidate Isko Moreno and I would discuss the functions and management of government organizations, we agreed on the need for re-organizing the Cabinet-level departments to include dividing the DA into one for land-based agriculture and livestock, and another into fisheries and aquatic resources.
The same goes for DENR, where the mandate of sustainable environmental protection ought to be separated from the agencies that give license for natural resource development.
And DTI, where domestic concerns like consumer protection and MSME promotion should be separated from one where the major function is external trade and the marketing of the country as an investment destination.
I must state here I had very good first impressions about the president’s first SONA where he listed the re-engineering of government through a re-organization plan and the enactment (finally!) of a national land use act as legislative priorities.
That neither has moved in the last two years is a major disappointment.
Still, we are happy three of Isko’s major supporters have been named to very important positions in the current administration.
They would have been in Isko Moreno’s “aspirational” dream, one as potential speaker of the House, but that of course is irrelevant now.
If the administration has a diligent search committee that lists down, vets and recruits the persons to help him achieve his plans and programs, the next DTI secretary should be a tested and proven marketing person.
He must be able to initiate a serious campaign to promote the country as a destination for foreign direct investments, taking stock of our comparative advantages, and as part of the economic team, seek to improve those advantages and badger the other agencies of government to act with zeal and determination to neutralize our many disadvantages.
The DTI has a core of highly qualified career personnel, especially in its team of foreign-assigned commercial counselors who just need proper direction and motivation to actively entice investors to come in as well as trade exchanges to be increased.
Every administration must periodically review the performance of its team, as the president’s performance is a function of the effectivity of the men and women to whom he has entrusted the myriad functions of government.
Transitions happen, and need to happen, and we hear that some more are forthcoming.
