Voluntary resignations

When a former Cabinet secretary was made board chairman of an ailing airline, he met with his management team after six months as the company continued its lackluster operation.

Like a poker guru, he expressed his displeasure to his team: “I told you to change the game, you merely shuffled the cards.”

Similarly, after suffering a major defeat in the recent midterm elections, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. asked all the Cabinet secretaries and heads of government agencies to submit courtesy resignations so he could recalibrate his mandate, like refreshing a mobile phone that has stalled or improving its efficiency.

But the electoral loss may have been due to a confluence of many factors not exclusively attributable to his Cabinet’s “underperformance.” One major possibility could be the loose, hollow, warring, and fragile Alyansa coalition at the LGU level where the votes come from.

The call for voluntary resignations is a political strategy in order to recalibrate his mandate because business was no longer as usual.

It is aimed at impressing on the people that he has his ear to the ground and feels the pulse of the nation following the defeat of his candidates that he viewed as a call to change or reshuffle his team and refocus his agenda.

But in a live telecast, his spokesperson cavalierly maligned the character and integrity of those who would be terminated or transferred to other posts.

“Sa gobyerno ni Presidente Marcos walang puwang ang tamad at corrupt (In the government of President Marcos there is no place for the lazy and corrupt),” she said.

She was probably taken by the moment when she indicted the affected officials. She forgot that in our democracy, the presumption of innocence is a fundamental right. She also dismissed the reality that public service is both a duty and a sacrifice.

The affected officials and their families will be scarred and suffer social humiliation not unlike the Jews who were forced to wear the notorious and shameful badge of the yellow star during Hitler’s genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question.

A voluntary resignation is part of the political game and must be viewed as routine and not a punishment.

But her statement about removing the lazy and the corrupt was thoughtless, cruel, unfair, unwarranted, and in street lingo OA (overacting).

Changing the game by removing all the officials is akin to the English idiom of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It would have been chaotic if President BBM terminated all of them. A mass termination would be misinterpreted as an impulsive, politically expedient and bad judgment on his part because he originally appointed them.

For those furloughed who are known for their integrity and skills, opportunities in the private sector are readily available. The government’s loss is the private sector’s gain.

Or should they decide to serve the public again in a different capacity they could run for election in 2028.

“Life goes on” as the American poet Robert Frost said, and the affected officials should pick up the “shattered” pieces of their public image and pursue their interrupted dreams in another realm.

The call for courtesy resignations, if handled properly and with empathy, can be a meaningful mechanism for recalibration. It offers the President the opportunity to refine his team and realign priorities as a sign of responsible governance, rather than a symbol of failure.

However, such a process of change must be guided by fairness and respect. Sweeping generalizations, especially those that associate resignation with laziness or corruption, risk unfairly tarnishing the reputations of capable and ethical public servants.

Public trust is not earned by dramatic purges framed as decisive action but by being true and respectful of those who have served.

In the end, leadership is measured by how effectively the new team performs and not by how many have been removed. Likewise, governance is not a game of optics but a test of outcomes.

Thus, more than just a symbolism of change, the new team should display competence, integrity and a renewed sense of purpose as the nation looks for results.