Change and Constants in Governance

18 July 2010

So many eyebrows have been raised as to President Noynoy Aquino’s appointments to his cabinet. Some of his key appointees are recycled from previous administrations – Cesar Purisima had been Erap’s and Arroyo’s finance secretary, Jose “Ping” de Jesus had been Cory’s and Ramos’ public works secretary, NEDA’s Cayetano Paderanga was head of the same outfit and monetary board member under Cory, and Alberto Romulo carried the finance and foreign affairs portfolios from the time of Cory and up to Gloria Arroyo. And, of course, the new secretary of defense had served Cory as head of the presidential security group. I would not be surprised if one day Ronaldo Puno would re-appear as secretary of interior – he’d been there at the inner circle of power since the Marcos era.

Not only that, many of these appointees are susceptible to conflict-of-interest suspicions. For example, De Jesus’ Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) will be in charged of regulating business corporations where he used to hold top executive positions, such as Meralco, PLDT and the Manila North Tollways Corporation; DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson was a senior executive of Citadel Holdings, Inc. and as head of the Bases Conversion & Development Authority paved the way to the conversion of Fort Bonifacio and delivering it into the hands of big private developers; Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras is a former president of Manila Water and Cebu Holdings Inc., both owned by the Ayala group, and a former treasurer of the Aboitiz group that is now involved in the power and energy industry.

Truth to say, administrations may have changed but it’s the same people that run the affairs of the state. These are the “constants” that turn the wheels of government. This is good news indeed to some sectors of society like the Makati Business Club now represented by Alberto Lim at the department of tourism (tourism!?), but really bad news for those who expect fundamental changes from the new administration.

Administrations come and go but each of them dips from the same pool of people to fill the few thousands of managers in the bureaucracy. This is certainly crazy for aren’t there other talents among the 90 + million Filipinos to choose from? Unbelievable, but this is actually normal and characteristic of an elitist (non-democratic) society. The way to keep the special privileges of the elite is to insure that every single “new” appointee of an incoming administration is chosen from the same old circle of economic managers and political operators.

Government – from the municipal to the national – is business’ biggest client. In real politics and economics the lines between the public and the private are blurred since the key players are the same people. It’s like the left and the right pockets. What is taken from one goes into the other. Meanwhile, the illusion of a government of, by and for the people goes on.

Is the new president aware of this reality? In the case of P-Noy, I think this is the only reality that he knows. He also holds on to the belief that he can deliver his promise of deliverance to the poor and marginalized sectors of society without having to replace it. But the real question is, how long will the people be fooled to accept this reality?