Midterm chaos

Despite attempts to gaslight the public that the real reason for the sharp drop in the approval rating of President Bongbong Marcos is the allegedly “unsanctioned” and ill-timed filing of the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte by the House of Representatives, the people of the Visayas and Mindanao have not forgotten that the Marcos administration orchestrated the arrest and rendition of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to The Hague to await trial before the International Criminal Court.

Just the same, all eyes are on the Senate as we wait whether the impeachment trial will push through. Meanwhile, the historical first impeachment of a sitting Vice President has divided Congress, and its resolution is now inextricably crucial in determining both the Senate Presidency and the Speakership in the incoming 20th Congress.

Meanwhile, the dismal performance of the administration’s slate during the midterm election has prompted the administration to resort to half-baked grand gestures. In an attempt to curry favor with the public purportedly to “heed” the public sentiment echoed in the election outcome, PBBM made an unexpected call for a mass courtesy resignation of all his appointed Cabinet.

The call sent ripples through the government and private sectors alike, bringing uncertainty to the economy and government operations – troubles which would have been worthwhile if the necessary changes in the Cabinet were actually made.

Ultimately, the exercise was rendered inutile, futile and anti-climactic by the President’s rejection of the resignations of most of his Cabinet. Save for a few unremarkable changes, albeit overdue replacements, the Marcos Cabinet, for the most part, remained intact.

If the President really wanted to demonstrate political will to pursue genuine reform from within his administration, he should have axed the problematic, non- or under-performing Cabinet members outright. The Palace would have been better off announcing well-thought out changes, adjustments and upgrades in the Cabinet. That would have signaled a strong, decisive leadership.

It now appears that the mass courtesy resignations were intended to do away with the unsavory task of having the painful conversations with those deemed dispensable. Whoever suggested the mass courtesy resignations instead of having these difficult awkward conversations should also be fired for putting the President in a situation where he raised everyone’s expectations only to disappoint again.

If only meritocracy were the standard in presidential appointments to begin with, there would have been no need to resort to mass courtesy resignations in the first place.

At this point where the bitter political feud between the Marcoses and the Dutertes has escalated to the point of no return, the question lingering on everyone’s mind (and the proverbial pink elephant in the room) is: will the Marcos administration really be better off if Martin Romualdez were replaced as Speaker of the House? Or won’t that just make the President more open and vulnerable to direct attacks from the Duterte camp?

The role of Speaker of the House is much coveted given Congress wields the power of the purse. He who controls the gold, holds the power. But really… who else among the congressmen-elect has the gravitas to put the notoriously fickle, voracious and divided House of Representatives in order, not only to deliver on the legislative agenda of the administration but also to do what needs to be done to protect the Marcos presidency?