Why is Sec. Duque clinging to his seat?

A man of honor and dignity would know when to quit and when to cut ties from his office. There is a time when staying has become a burden to oneself and to the people. In public service, and even in marriage and in business partnership, there are tipping points when men of valor and integrity should decide to leave. Yes, there is that time when it is virtually bordering on shamelessness to stay any minute longer.

If DOH Secretary Duque has a little decency or “delicadeza” left , he should unburden the president and the Filipino people and immediately tender his irrevocable, unconditional, immediate and final resignation. He is already a wealthy man and needs no additional income. He had been DOH secretary under GMA and Civil Service chairman under PNoy. He has no higher level to go further, except if he wants to be a senator like the one and only Juan Flavier. That is if he wins. My strong feeling is that most Filipinos do not trust him anymore. I think that he also knows this. That is why he has allowed Usec Rosario Vergiere to do the daily counts of deaths and infections. Or perhaps, he delegates the unsavory jobs of announcing proofs of failures every day.

Duque has reached that point in the famed Peter's management principle, called his level of incompetence, and there is abundant evidence that the majority of the people have lost their confidence in him.  We are not prejudging him on integrity but we are evaluating him on competence and the ability to manage. For a number of months, he has not presented a clear and definite plan of action on how to fight the virus. He just keeps on repeating the hackneyed lines of the president, who also keeps on relying on Russia and China. Duque has not done and is not doing his homework. He should step aside and do the biggest favor to the nation by resigning immediately.

He may be an honest man. He should enjoy the presumption of innocence. But he failed miserably in preventing the billions of squandered PhilHealth funds, despite the fact that he is the chairman of that biggest and richest government-owned and controlled corporation. By his apparent reckless neglect and over reliance on the execom, he allowed some unrestrained control over disbursements of billions of PhilHealth funds. Those are blood money coming from poor workers in government and in the private sectors. Duque was appointed to be the guardian of these funds, but he bungled it all. He exposed his incompetence before the questioning eyes of both the Senate and the house. He lost all moral authority to govern.

In 2014, as national president of the PMAP or People Management Association of the Philippines, in the Waterfront Lahug Hotel, before an audience of thousands of HR managers from all over the Philippines, I awarded Francisco Duque as Chair of Civil Service then and then mayor Michael L. Rama the prestigious award for excellence in public service. If that award were to be decided now, I would be very vehement in objecting to the conferment of that honor to Duque. Not because of graft which has not been proven yet, but because of incompetence, which is becoming more and more apparent as it is real. Thus, to redeem whatever remains of his self-respect, he needs to step down gracefully before the president would be compelled to fire him.

If he were a Japanese samurai, he already lost his face. He must commit hara kiri in front of the emperor. But because he is a Filipino, he should remember what I told him in 2014: PILIPINO, Pili Na Lipi na Pino ang Ugali. Chosen race with refined character. Duque comes from a very decent family in Pangasinan. He should not dishonor his relatives and province by staying longer in DOH. He should forget GMA, his “abyan” whose influence on the president is the only strand that keeps Duque tied to his seat. Duque should realize that it is time to cut that strand. Now.