To stay relevant

Cabinet officials are covered by the existing law that bans them from being employed in a private sector job that has direct link with his or her office in government within one year of resignation/termination. This is one of the drawbacks for any talent search to convince those in the private sector to quit from their high-paying jobs to become a Cabinet official.

So it should be no surprise why incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has not strayed away so much in the recruitment of his own Cabinet team. Still in the process of composing the new members of his official family, the newly proclaimed President has been recycling from Cabinet officials of several administrations past.

Let’s indulge the 64-year old namesake son of the late president Ferdinand Marcos and address him as President BBM, for brevity’s sake. Over the weekend, presidential eldest sister, Senator Imee Marcos reiterated the commitment of her brother of uniting the country, especially after a divisive, bitterly fought election campaign. Designating herself as SAP, or “super Ate of the President,” Sen. Imee encouraged her brother to recruit the best and the brightest even from rival political camps to serve in the government again like a “team of rivals” in consonance with their UniTeam campaign that swept them into victory.

While indeed it sounds good, there is also, however, a one-year ban against all candidates who run but lost in the just concluded May 9 national and local elections to be appointed to any government position.

Saying he does not want “to waste time,” PBBM last week declared he wants his administration “to hit the ground running” when he assumes office at noon of June 30 this year at Malacañang Palace. He made this vow a day in his first press conference after Congress officially proclaimed him and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as Vice President.

For starters, PBBM has already convinced his incoming Vice President to serve concurrently as Department of Education Secretary. Aside from the daughter of his immediate predecessor, PBBM named Mr. Duterte’s MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos to be his Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary. Like Abalos, another UniTeam campaign bureau member, PBBM asked his former official campaign spokesman lawyer Vic Rodriguez to be his Executive Secretary. A long-time friend of PBBM, Rep. Anton Lagdameo will be his Special Assistant to the President.

Subsequently, PBBM announced having convinced erstwhile Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma. It was the same post he held during the shortened term of president Joseph Estrada.

The incoming Chief Executive tapped a staunch advocate for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Susan “Toots” Ople to head the newly created Department of Migrant Workers. Ople was once DOLE undersecretary of former president and now re-elected Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Toots, as we fondly call her, is one of the daughters of the late Sen. Blas Ople who served long as the Labor Minister during the martial law regime.

Re-elected Cavite Rep. Crispin “Boying” Remulla announced ahead his acceptance of Justice Department Secretary. PBBM later confirmed having nominated Remulla who once served as Mr. Estrada’s deputy Presidential Management Staff. Then another ex-Duterte functionary, PBBM designated lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles to head the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

With the country’s economic recovery as his administration’s top priority in the next six years, PBBM tapped the most experienced economic managers in the public service.

Thus, PBBM sought out immediately Philippine Competition Commission Arsenio Balisacan to return to his former post as Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Balisacan first headed NEDA during the administration of the late president Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Last week, PBBM nominated another former Duterte Cabinet official, incumbent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno to head the Department of Finance (DOF). Diokno, too, once served in the Estrada Cabinet as Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

On the same day, PBBM named another ex-Estrada Cabinet official, former NEDA Director-General Felipe Medalla to finish the unexpired term of Diokno as BSP Governor ending in July 2023. Former University of the Philippines president Alfred Pascual and San Miguel Corp. Tollways head, Manny Bonoan, were, nominated to head the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), respectively.

So far, so good was the common reaction to the first set of PBBM nominations to his Cabinet team.

To date, PBBM has nominated almost half of the 25 Cabinet officials with Department portfolios who all must go through the confirmation wringer by the incoming 19th Congress. Another ex-Estrada official, former Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Secretary Jose Jaime Policarpio Jr. is reportedly being recruited to go back to his former post.

Already, PBBM nominees are now working out their transition into office with their respective counterparts in the Duterte Cabinet.

As among the co-terminus Cabinet officials of President Duterte, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua looks forward to the transition to the next administration. Appearing as guest at my Kapihan sa Manila Bay virtual news forum last Wednesday, Chua excitedly told us about his future plans after June 30 this year once he steps down from his Cabinet post.

“I will study to keep myself relevant,” Chua quipped. Seriously, I retorted in surprise. “I will study again, otherwise, I will become irrelevant,” Chua pointed out. The 43-year old NEDA chief is one of the youngest Cabinet officials of President Duterte.

It was not an empty wish. Chua has been behind the Cabinet push to resume the face-to-face classes all over the country. After all, it is the best way to stay relevant as part of the post-pandemic economic recovery of the country.