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THE
President’s two latest appointments in the Cabinet have
expectedly drawn the speculation, so implicit in the
instinctive questions posed by reporters to Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita, that it’s only “payback” that
dictates her choices.
As we
said, that line of questioning is not surprising, given
some of her questionable selections in the past. At the
same time, it is unfortunate because with three more
years to go, she really is entitled to pick people she
has confidence in to help her deliver on her legacy; at
the same time, to be fair, her batting average in
picking people is, for lack of a more empirical basis,
at the very least 50-50, we should say.
In other
words, she has picked some lightweights or lemons in the
past, but has, to her credit, chosen or kept good ones
as well, even those who don’t curtsy to her.
Now that
she has made her choices, the burden eventually shifts
from a President defending her judgment to the new
appointee validating it.
Let’s
start with energy, undoubtedly one of the most important
portfolios in the economic sector. Readers might have
noticed that on the day Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla
announced he was leaving, this paper’s editorial bore
unsolicited advice to the policymakers to review the
energy road map prepared by the experts in both the
Department of Energy and the Department of Science and
Technology.
We
alluded to persistent reports that certain
vested-interest groups have kept lobbying the Palace for
all sorts of deals that cash in on the biofuels sector
without necessarily filling in the real requirements for
power. We said also that as a newcomer in the biofuels
community—even though many advances in the sector, both
here and abroad, involved brilliant Filipino scientists
and innovators—the Philippines would do well to study
the lessons of those who’ve been at it for a long time,
like Brazil and Thailand, and not be stampeded into just
any group invoking the often-misleading mantra of “green
energy.”
More
often than not, it’s the cash register that’s ringing in
the background, so government gatekeepers must heed the
best experts in vetting proposals in the sector, instead
of treating biofuels like some fad for people with an
eye to profit but really no competence.
If truth
be told, there’s word going around that a cabal of
former military officers are egging government to
recklessly cash in on jathropa plantations, heedless of
the expert advice from the DOST and the DOE.
The
burden falls on incoming Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes,
coincidentally a former general, to calm public
apprehension that energy policy, especially in biofuels,
will be marked by a certain cronyism. His record shows
Secretary Reyes to be a technocrat-soldier with academic
and intellectual accomplishments that can commend him
for the energy portfolio.
Now all
he has to do is show that his intelligence will get this
country somewhere in the energy map, as it did decades
ago, when Geronimo Velasco, a pillar in the country’s
quest for an independent energy policy, laid down the
solid foundations for our non-oil energy resources,
especially in geothermal. Mr. Velasco, whose sad passing
two days ago in the US should transcend all politics,
proved that even with a controversial president, a
Cabinet secretary who knows his work, and has the
political will, can get the country moving. Assuming, of
course, he’s smart enough to get his President’s
backing.
Beyond
competence and vision, at the very least, people would
now expect that Secretary Reyes has the integrity of his
predecessor Popo Lotilla, who deserves the break from
his “vow of poverty.” Despite the myriad controversies
and headaches of overseeing the privatization of state
power assets, and vetting all proposals before crafting
the energy road map, not a whiff of scandal touched the
good professor.
One
hopes it stays that way with Angie Reyes.
Now with
environment, a portfolio of immense importance these
days mainly owing to two things: the unstoppable tide of
global conscience for all years of unsustainable
assaults on the planet; and two, the Arroyo government’s
policy decision to make mining a major driver for growth
under the medium-term economic plan.
To
associate three-term
Manila mayor Lito Atienza simplistically with
Arroceros Park, as some quarters have done, is a rather
narrow way of assessing his qualifications and chances
of success in the new job. In the first place, the
debate over the park involves many legal issues,
foremost of which is that, having been bought with the
special education fund that mandates use of the property
for educational values, City Hall under Atienza had
proceeded to build a teachers’ dormitory and a decent
building for the city’s state educators in the property
that they—the teachers—own.
The
incumbent mayor’s decision to reopen the park to the
public, under the supervision of a private foundation,
is Mayor Fred Lim’s call; but Mayor Lim seems a
reasonable man, enough to see clearly that there is no
justice in insisting on treating the teachers who use
that building in their property as if they are just
tenants. Certainly the trees and the teachers can
coexist.
But
that’s a separate issue. The question now should be, as
in the case of Secretary Reyes at energy, whether the
three-term Manila mayor can run the DENR well.
There’s
information the President’s choice was inspired by Mr.
Atienza’s ability in getting together stakeholders in
development projects, as he did with barangay and
sectoral community leaders in planning and implementing
key projects in Manila’s six districts under his urban
renewal program. Whether these involved parks, public
libraries, health centers, hospitals or a day-care or
school-feeding center, he was credited with getting
local leaders to act like stakeholders, i.e., be
responsible for their areas.
That
ability to cobble together consensus and support among
stakeholders is vital in the DENR, which, for years, has
championed a stewardship approach, especially in the
uplands, coastal and other critical areas, where poor
and local folk normally treat natural resources as just
a resource for the taking.
This
will be Atienza’s acid test—besides winning over these
communities, he’d have to deal with a slew of lobbyists
and big business.
It’s
said that compared to Ferdinand Marcos, Cory Aquino,
Fidel Ramos and even Joseph Estrada, the incumbent
President has not attracted a good proportion of the
best and the brightest to her Cabinet. This will be
debated on by public administration experts and
political pundits for years to come. It would be unfair
to make a sweeping judgment at this time, for even at
this writing one can think of several outstanding
appointments.
In the
meantime, she and her Cabinet should make the most of
this chance at a second wind, and prove that when she
said it’s payback time this year, all she really had in
mind were the Filipino people. |
