Rejuvenation

Government service can burn you out, unless you’re maintaining a certain lifestyle by skimming billions in people’s money. With the daang matuwid administration entering its fifth year, some members of President Aquino’s official family reportedly want to leave government.

Maybe the officials want to spend quality time with their families, or make real money in the private sector without worrying about being suspected of plunder. Maybe the officials are tired of controversy. At least one is said to be preparing to jump ship and move over to the camp of the apparent new masters of the universe come 2016.

Regardless of the reason, P-Noy should seriously consider accepting offers to quit, whether made verbally, by text, email or formally in black and white.

After four years, his administration needs fresh faces. Daang matuwid is starting to look crooked. If there is a general shakeup of his official family, no one will feel singled out or look guilty of anything. A shakeup can be described mainly as part of continuing efforts to improve service to P-Noy’s bosses the people.

A new team, if carefully chosen, can breathe new life into an administration suffering from the public dissatisfaction that usually starts intensifying (as indicated in surveys since the first Aquino presidency) midway through a six-year term.

In P-Noy’s case, this is happening a bit late into his term. P-Noy has enjoyed high approval ratings longer than all his predecessors and he has not been immune to the hubris that prolonged popularity engenders. Even with the plunge in his ratings in the latest surveys, the statements from the Palace indicate that daang matuwid is either in denial or is becoming dangerously out of touch with the bosses.

Inspired by the “we bulong” brigade, P-Noy at this point may also see his administration in the middle of the stream wherein, as the saying goes, changing horses is a bad idea.

But four years can be a long time in a Cabinet post. Four years constitutes one term in the American presidential system. Even when re-elected for another four years, US presidents usually change key members of their official family, particularly those who have been embroiled in controversies.

New term, new team. Fresh mandate, fresh faces.

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Fidel Ramos, whose supporters made a failed bid to amend the Constitution and allow him to seek re-election, said six years is too long for a bad president, and too short for a good one.

The same can be said of a president’s alter egos in the Cabinet.

P-Noy has only two years left to pursue his reform agenda, now endangered by perceptions that some of his top officials are straying from the straight path. Justified or not, such perceptions are stalling his reforms.

From the start he has shown pained reluctance to let go of his officials, especially the few who can be described as his old friends. A general reorganization can ease the pain, and signify his continuing commitment to pursue reforms. It will ease the pressure now directed at him for shielding his officials.

P-Noy can announce changes in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, to signify a fresh start.

His fifth SONA may also be a good time to temporarily set aside his yellow ribbon pin. The carping critics are right: he is now president of an entire nation and not just of his yellow supporters. The yellow ribbon is starting to be seen as a keep-out sign, a symbol of an exclusive club, and a number of those who display it have been implicated in corruption scandals. P-Noy can still display the ribbon at events of his family and the intrinsically partisan gatherings of the Liberal Party.

Critics have launched color wars, wearing black, red and peach against his yellow, diluting the genuine historical significance of the color in the nation’s struggle for democracy.

The color may become even more compromised if P-Noy is ever indicted after his term for the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Whether or not in good faith, using public funds for purposes other than what they were appropriated for can constitute technical malversation. It’s a bailable offense but it can warrant six to 12 years in prison.

Having launched an angry public harangue of the entire Supreme Court on national TV, P-Noy gave himself little wiggle room for saving face in the expected rejection of his appeal. Whipped by the SC for the DAP, he returned for another whipping.

The buzz is that the Palace had expected a close vote, and had tried to persuade at least two SC justices to believe the good faith argument. But the initial close vote count worsened to 9-3, and the final unanimous vote against DAP reportedly stunned the Palace.

The tepid if not negative reaction to P-Noy’s call to wear yellow, combined with the recent plunge in his ratings, should make him consider that it’s a good time for dramatic changes.

It can have a rejuvenating effect.

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USELESS COPS: In the heavy downpour at past noon yesterday, traffic was snarled at the junction of MIA Road and Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque. On the western side of the junction is an outpost of the Southern Police District, where two uniformed cops stood watching the mess, scratching their butts and looking like they were remarking to themselves, “Wow, traffic!”