loria Arroyo could fire all
the mem-bers of her Cabinet tomorrow and seek to replace them with the nation’s
best and the brightest. But who is the self-respecting citizen who would agree
to serve her rotten government?
So she would be left with the dregs – the fawning courtiers,
the quick buck artists, the power-hungry, and the social climbers - who
otherwise could not rise beyond their mediocrity.
A Cabinet revamp early this month is long expected. The
losers in the 2007 elections are set to collect on their markers. Most of them
ran in the administration ticket in the full knowledge they did not have a
snowball’s chance in hell of winning. They agreed to join the doomed
administration ticket solely on the expectation they would amply be rewarded
after the year-long ban on their appointments.
And get their rewards they will when the Palace soon issues a
ream of new appointments.
Cabinet positions are the plum. Mike Defensor is said to be
among those who will soon be named secretaries. Aside from Defensor, however,
the name of no other loser in 2007 election is being floated. Talks are only
about a reshuffle among the current Cabinet members in order to accommodate AFP
chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon who is retiring after a three-month extension on
May 9.
The more likely scenario is that the losers would be
accommodated in sub-Cabinet positions. The names we have been hearing so far are
sending shivers down the spine of people whose businesses would be affected.
There is this extortion artist who reportedly spent the most
money, accumulated during his long years as a legislator, among the
administration senatorial candidates. He is reportedly angling for the post of
commissioner of customs. He was the No. 2 padrino of smugglers (there’s no cigar
to those who correctly guess who the No. 1 is) in Manila, Cebu and other ports
down South when he was with Congress. If he gets the top customs post, we’ll
find smugglers bringing in contraband by the shiploads instead of by the
containers.
But he fits right in the company of the Palace thieves. And
his brazenness will serve the company well in the last two minutes of Gloria and
Mike’s reign.
How will the interests of the people, the government and the
country be served by the imminent changes? Wrong question.
The changes are not intended to uplift the lives of the people, improve
governance or push the country forward. They are meant to reward the loyal and
to ensure Gloria’s continued stay in power. That’s the long and short of this
coming revamp.
