SAY said it all when he quit: President Duterte is one tough cookie.
Dominador R. Say was supposed to be the next one off the Commander in Chief’s chopping block. Say dodged the bullet when he resigned just days before his dismissal was made public last week.
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said the President has personal knowledge about his alleged corruption as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary for Employment, Policy Support and Luzon-Visayas Regional Operations. However, Roque added he can’t say whether that accusation prompted the President to fire Say.
Had he been booted out, Say would add to nearly a hundred government personnel sacked by Duterte, mostly because of corruption allegations, in just a span of about two years in office. Weeks before Say quit, the firebrand President announced he has accepted the resignation of Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II, amid speculations of another cabinet reshuffling.
Aguirre, Duterte’s fraternity brother in San Beda’s Lex Taleonis Fraternity, was replaced by Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra.
Albeit it was unclear if Duterte asked his fraternity brother to resign, the fact remains the President appears unyielding in his policy statement: “A whiff of corruption, you’re out.”
Alone at the top
Jean S. Encinas-Franco of the Department of Political Science at University of the Philippines Diliman considers Duterte’s firing tack to come from the President’s aim to be perceived as tough and a no-nonsense leader.
And Franco believes propping up that perception appears to work for people who believe him.
“I think the people like what he is doing because Filipinos have long wanted that: a no-nonsense [leader], who can fire immediately officials [on a whiff of corruption],” she told the BusinessMirror.
However, Franco said there’s also the reality that the Duterte administration has a shallow bench.
The President is resorting to frequent change of officials because he has no pool of technocrats to rely on, she added.
Nonetheless, Duterte’s hiring and firing style is welcomed by Franco. She believes some officials would be very careful so that they will avoid doing something to earn the President’s ire The downside of this is political stasis.
“If you’re careful, you might not do anything. You will not initiate bold reforms or you’ll just be super beholden to the President that you are to deliver.”
Casiple agreed with Franco saying Cabinet members may be on their toes since they don’t want to make a false or bad impression in front of the President.
That, according to him, may affect whole governance.
Apt pupil
POLITICAL analyst Ramon C. Casiple said the Duterte administration is more likely to sack people compared to the past administration of Benigno S. Aquino III.
Casiple, who is also the executive director at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said booting out people is good for the country since cabinet officials will always keep an eye on their performance as public servants.
He said this administration is different because the President came in from the cold with a political platform but with no expectations of winning the elections. He also did not come from the national government, although he is a longtime Davao City mayor, Casiple said.
“I would appreciate his entry as President because he is the only one with no strings attached to the elite,” he added.
Casiple explained the elite have an advantage in running the government “because they already know what it requires to be a president.”
“So usually they already have short-term to long-term plans before they run and they are also prepared with their list of their Cabinet appointees,” he said.
Dogged determination
DUTERTE ran with the slogan “Change is coming.”
Indeed, even those thought to be under his aegis were axed over hints of corruption. They include former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, former National Irrigation Administration Head Peter Laviña and former Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.
Sueno was Duterte’s party-mate at the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan party, while Laviña served as the President’s campaign spokesman during the 2016 elections. Argosino and Robles were his fraternity brothers, too.
Aside from them, the President also sacked as of March of last year over 92 government personnel, including officials from the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Land Transportation Office and the Bureau of Immigration. They were shown the exit based on alleged irregularities in the performance of their duties.
If not corruption allegations, these officials were also accused of taking too many trips abroad.
Sodden impact
FOR political analysts like Casiple, these frequent changes in the Cabinet have little impact on the gears running the engines of public service.
Maria Fe Villamejor-Mendoza, dean of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, told the BusinessMirror the impact on government performance would just be in the “short term.”
This is so “because this [Cabinet reshuffle] concerns the people at the top who may not have that much influence in the day-to-day operations at the bureaucracy,” Mendoza said.
Franco also believes changes at the top would affect the present administration’s governance to some extent but not as much.
“The bureaucracy is manned by people who are on a permanent basis and they are on security of tenure and they have been there a long time ago. They already know their jobs. They are used to having secretaries come and go,” Franco said. “They can definitely adjust. That’s the beauty of permanent staff in a department because they really continue the process despite the changes.”
Casiple also said the level of disruption of services would not be that serious since the bureaucracy is intact.
“The direction is set by the President actually,” Casiple said. “That is why it doesn’t really matter [if a high official leaves].”
Trial, error
THE only downside to the firing tack of Duterte is the appearance, the President may be undertaking a trial-and-error method when it comes to political appointments, according to Mendoza.
Maybe “he is slowly learning the ropes,” which may explain the time the President appointed good people.
“If you look at the first wave of his appointees, most of them were either from Davao or Mindanao, from San Beda. The patronage politics that we have in the past that should not happen in good governance,” Mendoza said. “As he grows to address the job, he sees his mistakes. That is why with his appointment of PNP [chief Director General Oscar D.] Albayalde, among other new appointees, were hailed as good decisions.”
However, Franco doesn’t want to call the President’s demeanor as “trial and error.”
But she said the President needs to think thoroughly before firing people.
“What he does is he has people he really trusts and he gets information on this people he really trusts. So what I’m scared of is how valid the information he is getting from the people,” she said. “Of course, if he really trusts in people that are with him, I hope they give the President the totality [of the information].”
But Casiple said he already expected that Duterte would use the trial-and-error method in his appointees. He also expects the President would continue to do this until the end of his term.
“I think so. It’s his management style,” he said. “But I would rather say that there would come a time that he would be more confident with his appointees.”
Recommendations
MENDOZA said there should be a more permanent and systematic process in place to help the presidents who have a hard time picking people for his Cabinet, noting that most of the Presidential appointees come from a President’s comfort zone.
“It would be better if we have a system so that you will have a process of vetting who should be on the bureaucracy to help the President,” she told the BusinessMirror.
According to Mendoza, this is important today as the country is not used to Duterte’s leadership style. Such style, she said, is different from the past administrations wherein decisions were made in a subtle and more professional manner, especially in firing people.
“[A]lthough he has the authority, there should still be at least a due process,” she added. “They are not dots [on the wall] that you can just remove,” she said.
Franco added it should also be better if the government would be transparent in letting the public know the reason for the firing or replacement of an official.
Image credits: Bloomberg