PALACE: ROXAS AS TROUBLESHOOTER FOR RP'S SAKE
[PHOTO - FORMER SENATOR MAR ROXAS II: Political observers saw this move of Aquino to bring in Roxas as a step for the Balay faction to consolidate power within Aquino's circle, effectively shutting out the Samar faction.]
MANILA, JANUARY 15, 2011 (TRIBUNE) By Aytch S. de la Cruz - Malacañang defended the phasing into the Cabinet of President Aquino's losing running mate, former Sen. Manuel Roxas II, who got an appointment as "chief troubleshooter" as being done for the sake of the country while dismissing the possible negative implications of the move on the working relationship between elected Vice President Jejomar Binay and Aquino.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte yesterday rejected the speculation made by Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong that Roxas' appointment could adversely affect the working relationship of Binay and Aquino.
Valte said nothing will change in the working relationship of all officials in the Aquino administration as she cited the "professionalism" established by both Roxas and Aquino in dealing with government affairs.
She claimed that there was nothing personal with respect to Aquino's decision to give Roxas an important role in his administration once the ban on defeated candidates from seeking government posts expires by the end of this June.
"I think there is no need to speculate about the working relationship because the President is a professional, the Vice President is a professional, and so is former Sen. Mar Roxas. So this is just work," Valte said.
"Of course, we all see that they are doing this…for the sake of the country. We do not expect that there will be a change in the working relationship," she stressed.
Valte as well as other Palace officials' claims, however, run in contrast with observations of Aquino critics and political analysts who have noticed the so-called marginalization of Binay in the Aquino administration.
Some critics argued that the Vice President was not being given time to shine by Aquino in his administration after he refused to give Binay's preferred top post at Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) when they took over the reins of government.
Roxas, on the other hand, while he was still covered by the one-year election ban, was guaranteed by Aquino of a Cabinet post and was immediately asked to help in his government to the extent of making him a part of his official delegation during his first working visit to the United States last year.
Observations were rife since Aquino's announcement two Fridays ago on Roxas' new appointment that he might just turn up as de facto President given the expected vast authority that the Chief Executive would grant him.
Aquino, at a press briefing right after hosting a vin d' honneur in Malacañang last week, said he will be tapping the expertise of Roxas in so many aspects and may ask him to be one of his chief troubleshooter of his administration.
Criticisms immediately sprouted that instead of serving the President as troubleshooter, Roxas might just become a "troublemaker" in the administration, presumably due to a prevailing turf war among factions in Aquino's inner circle of allies.
Valte, however, branded these comments against Roxas as "unfair," arguing that the erstwhile lawmaker has an exceptional record as a public servant and the reason Aquino is going to bring in Roxas is basically due to the trust and confidence they have for each other since the campaign period.
"You know, we are of the belief that former Sen. Mar Roxas will really be a big help should he decide to accept the position to be offered by President Aquino because it is not unknown to all of our countrymen that Senator Mar was chosen by President Aquino to be his partner in running the government," Valte explained in an earlier interview.
Roxas should have been the Liberal Party's candidate for President in the 2010 elections but he supposedly gave way to his partymate Aquino and settled for the vice presidency. Aquino there after announced his candidacy for president riding on a public wave of sympathy on the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino who died in August 2009.
Aquino and Roxas' tandem led the surveys for the most part of the pre-election period against the formidable team up of former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Binay, then Mayor of Makati, who were bannered by the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.
Roxas, however, was edged out by Binay weeks before the campaign period ended. Binay eventually was declared the winner in the vice presidential election race which some political analysts considered as among the biggest upsets in the history of Philippine politics.
Binay's victory brought to fore the Balay and Samar factions of Aquino supporters in which the Balay group supported the losing bid of Roxas while the Samar group backed an Aquino-Binay tandem.
The existence and influence of these factions persisted, spawning accounts of infighting among members of the Aquino administration, which observers have often attached to talks of a Cabinet revamp.
Political observers saw this move of Aquino to bring in Roxas as a step for the Balay faction to consolidate power within Aquino's circle, effectively shutting out the Samar faction.
EARLIER REPORT FROM GMANEWS TV by Lisandro E. Claudio
Liberal Party vs. Kabarkada Inc. Wednesday, September 22. 2010
Mareng Winnie Monsod divides Noynoy's critics into the "Friendlies" and the "Unfriendlies".
As someone who wanted Noynoy to win (to this extent, I guiltily withheld my information about Hacienda Luisita lest it be used by the Villar camp), I'd like to think I belong to the former. So let me offer some friendly criticism.
By now it's obvious to many people that the president has made some pretty bad appointments. The president has appointed incompetent and, potentially corrupt friends to government posts. Amando Doronila has previously alluded to these friends as an "old boys club" in Malacañang. Personally, I call them Kabarkada Inc. – a group which has been causing our president problems since day one.
(If you recall, Noynoy's mother, President Cory, was known unfairly or not for her "Kamaganak Inc.")
When I heard earlier this year that then President-elect Aquino was planning to appoint an unknown Quezon City administrator named Jojo Ochoa to the position of Executive Secretary ("the little president"), my immediate reaction was like many others': "Jojo who?"
Aquino's justification for this crucial appointment - a spiel about how close he was to Ochoa and how long they'd known each other – was inadequate to say the least.
PNoy should recall that his mother appointed an eminently qualified Executive Secretary. Though he is routinely derided today, Joker Arroyo was an iconic and brilliant human rights lawyer in 1986. Civil society groups universally hailed his appointment as "little president."
It wouldn't take the public long to discover that Jojo was no Joker circa 1986. On his first day in office, Ochoa issued the bungled Memorandum Circular 1, which caused widespread disarray in many government offices. More recently, Newsbreak spotted him drunk in the Manila Pen, oozing machismo and having a grand time with lady friends as the rest of the country grieved over the Luneta tragedy.
In many ways, though, Pareng Jojo is just a PR liability. Pareng Rico is another story. As the de Lima report shows, Puno proved inept during the hostage crisis. This isn't surprising. Apart from being Noynoy's gun-touting buddy, what gives him the right to run the PNP? The guy himself admits to not knowing how to handle hostage situations. To top things off, based on Bishop Oscar Cruz's allegations, Puno is also possibly receiving payola from jueteng lords.
But let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He could be innocent. Even if this were the case, he should be held accountable for hiding information from the president. By his own admission, jueteng lords have attempted to approach the DILG undersecretary. Why didn't he tell his boss? And why doesn't he name names in public? We deserve to know.
Ironically, the person who can save the DILG from the likes of Puno is not secure in his position. Jesse Robredo – the multi-awarded mayor with a squeaky clean reputation – is sadly only an acting secretary because of "differences" between his working style and the president's. Having personal differences, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. Friends of a leader can easily become yes-men, rarely providing annoying dissenting views. In contrast, an independent official with integrity can serve as a check and balance to groupthink and sycophancy.
Barack Obama might not be the best example given his current unpopularity, but we should recall how much praise he received for appointing independent personalities to top government posts. In making Hillary Clinton the US's top diplomat, he proved that even one of his sharpest critics had a place in government (remember the extent of mudslinging during the Democratic primaries).
This may be slightly reductive, but I believe the battle lines within the Aquino administration are becoming more evident as events unfold. The much-touted Samar-Balay rivalry seems to me to be one between close friends and party mates, between Kabarkada Inc. and the Liberal Party.
To me, the choice is clear: Noynoy should stick with the LP. There are a number of reasons for this. First, as in the case of Robredo, LP politicians are usually more qualified. This is because many of them are in positions of prominence by virtue of political track record and not because they grew up with the president. Second, as Manuel Buancamino notes in his Business Mirror column, making a friend work under you can ruin your friendship (not that I care if Noynoy and Puno ever speak again). Third, and I think most importantly, the president needs to send a message that political parties matter.
One of the reasons why personality politics is so prevalent in the Philippines is because of our weak political party structure. Voters identify with people because, more often than not, political parties have no real identities apart from being assemblages created to forward the careers of individual politicians. Among the big traditional parties, only the Liberal Party has a sense of ideological coherence (unless, of course, you consider Gloria and Lakas-Kampi's "trapoism" a valid ideology). I may be critical of the big political parties, but even I have to admit that the LP, though diverse, is characterized by a liberal reformism. This means that, while its members may not want to overhaul our broken political system, they want to make it more efficient and, at times, even more equitable. We saw this, for example, in the LP senatorial ticket, which had candidates fighting to reform specific areas like health and education.
In many ways, our president is part of this tradition. And it is this tradition that he should draw from if he wants to genuinely change things. Also, if Noynoy strengthens his party, they can continue his policies and projects even after he leaves office. Kabarkada Inc. cannot do this. When Noynoy is no longer president, they'll head off either to the Pen or the shooting range.
There is no doubt that President Aquino has the support of two very loyal groups. Unfortunately, this is government and not a college fraternity. Love and macho loyalty are not enough. Qualifications and experience matter just as much.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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