Cheloy Garafil ‘neutralized’?

This is not my idea, but after hearing out the source, I have to admit that it explained and answered a couple of things I found very strange in the announcement that LTFRB Chairperson Cheloy Garafil had resigned her post and would be joining Malacañang Palace as an Undersecretary of the Press Office as well as officer-in-charge or acting press secretary.

To begin with, why would someone who was doing a perfectly good at the LTFRB just walk away at the drop of a hat? As chairperson, Cheloy Garafil was providing clear leadership at the LTFRB and had addressed the many injustices laid against traditional transport operators and lowly jeepney drivers and the like. After years of being treated like a cancer that needed to be eradicated during the Duterte administration, jeepney drivers and operators finally got the realistic and reasonable fare increases they needed in order to survive and continue operating. Even bus operators and drivers servicing the EDSA Bus Carousel were happy to be finally getting their backpay that was horrendously delayed during the previous administration.

Under Cheloy Garafil, routes were reopened or added to address the urgent need for public transport and mobility. In other words, the LTFRB finally operated with much less fear or favor, or bias, towards the transport modernization movement. In all honesty I was just beginning to appreciate how Cheloy Garafil and the LTFRB board had been conducting themselves at work and in a previous article, I suggested that the LTFRB be allowed to address the regulatory issues concerning MC taxis or motorcycle taxis like Angkas, Joy Ride and Move It instead of Congress once again reactivating or ordering for a new TWG or Technical Working Group to start all over.

Although Garafil’s sudden resignation and transfer caught us by surprise, we did not miss how strange the timing of the “resign & transfer” move was, not to mention that this was the second such occurrence in the PBBM government after former ES Vic Rodriguez attempted the resign & switch from ES to Chief of Staff unsuccessfully. Why quit the position of chairperson in exchange for a secondary- functionary position, come in as OIC or seat warmer for an intrigue laden, unpopular, politically unstable position right after President Bongbong Marcos already told the whole world that he already shortlisted the candidates for press secretary down to three (one of whom already turned it down) and would be announcing the choice this week? As the Robot in the TV series “Lost in Space” would say in a panic: “It does not compute! It does not compute!”

Yes, Cheloy Garafil has sufficient background and experience in media and communications in government as well as the legislative branch. It also helps that she is an experienced lawyer. But, really? Switch positions just like that? Unfortunately, because the LTFRB and the press office or presidential spokesperson is neither a sexy subject matter nor a palatable topic, most of us simply take it as par for the course, especially after three Cabinet officials resigned simultaneously.

I would have filed it under yesterday’s news but a former government official who once held a similar rank had to ring me on my day off at the rooster farm to share his view. Word is Cheloy Garafil’s assignment to the LTFRB looked like a simple placement for a loyal supporter and good fit at the LTFRB until Garafil did the unthinkable: actually running the LTFRB with fairness and integrity and opening routes and raising fares which a group with vested interest had worked so hard at suppressing in favor of the very exclusive EDSA Carousel, app-based mobility cars and cabs and forcibly eradicating jeepneys and old buses in the Philippines to be replaced by even more expensive mini buses and modern buses, all supplied by a small group of manufacturers and importers already in position.

In short, Cheloy Garafil did the unexpected, disturbed the status quo and therefore had to be “transferred” or removed ASAP. By sheer coincidence, the resignation of the former press secretary Trixie Angeles provided what looked like a seamless transfer and no one would be the wiser. Once the new press secretary is in power, Garafil will be unheard from in the catacombs of political maneuvers and power play.

All this reminded me of someone who was once assigned to the LTFRB by another president because she was a good lawyer and had PRRD’s interest at heart – one former Board member of the LTFRB Atty. Aileen Lizada, who made a name for herself blocking certain activities she found questionable at the LTFRB, even bumping heads and public disagreements with her chairman until she was also transferred to the bowels of the Civil Service Commission, where she still managed to come up for air once in a while and make her presence felt, but not as loudly as she did at the LTFRB.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions indeed. You also get a push off the cliff by the very people you thought were your friends.

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Today will undoubtedly be marked by a thousand-plus analyses of the first 100 days of the PBBM administration. I have been saying that nothing and no one among presidents have ever made major achievements in the first 100 days because like construction projects, unless you have carefully made plans and designs in advance, chances are you will be spending the first 100 days mobilizing resources, experts, personnel and logistics. This is why I nag candidates in general about who their Cabinet members will be before the elections. No one ever came up with a real list, which indicated either false humility or lack of confidence and commitment to the goal. As the saying goes, if you don’t have a plan, your goal is just a wish and that is what PBBM has been saying: “I wish….”