The "recycling" of Vince Dizon and Francis Tolentino

The return of Secretary Vince Dizon to the Department of Transportation after his failures to implement draconian promises he made for the Department of Public Works and Highways is the best evidence that the BBM administration doesn’t know how to choose the right people for the right job. The same or even worse can be said of DOLE secretary Francis Tolentino's hurried appointment to a department that he doesn’t know.

Both Dizon and Tolentino are good men with the wrong jobs. They are square pegs forced upon some round holes. We can only expect a series of wrong moves for the right intention and right moves for the wrong purposes. Dizon is only good at raising expectations. Like Jonvic Remulla, Dizon speaks too much too soon and delivers too little and too late. Tolentino doesn’t speak at all when he should be talking.

Dizon promised to prosecute the contractors and DPWH in Region 7, especially in Cebu. He delivered zero output. Dizon is just another Jonvic Remulla who telegraphs his punches before raising his arms. He announces that the fugitives were about to be arrested. He couldn’t locate, much less arrest Bato dela Rosa, Atong Ang, Zaldy Co, Harry Roque, and many high-profile fugitives. Vince and Jonvic should be named assistants to Lino Cayetano and Claire Castro.

Tolentino mishandled the wage issue. Despite the very clear provisions of Republic Act 6727, prohibiting judicial interference on the matter of wage determination, he allowed some Regional Trial Courts to throw a monkey wrench at NCR Wage Order No. 27. He filed the necessary pleading but too late. Then he allowed the issuance of another wage order that granted a lower wage increase. He angered both the labor sector and the employers' group.

Tolentino, by all appearances, has all the good intentions but he also unduly disturbed the career system in DOLE. On the first day of his assumption to office, he suspended a career regional director in Central Luzon for an accident that was beyond her capability to prevent. Due to the abuses of some contractors and foreign investors which led to the multiple deaths of construction workers, he punished a very good career regional director without due process.

It has been demonstrated that the BBM administration doesn’t know the art and science of HR especially in the area of Talent Acquisition. BBM cannot hold a candle to the excellence of his late father's competence in the choice of Cabinet members. The caliber of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.' Cabinet is one of the best in the world during his time. It’s high time that BBM control HR experts beyond the suggestions of his own wife who, by the way, is a very brilliant lawyer.

But BBM doesn’t seem to screen his appointees well, nor does he have a team of competent advisers on the delicate art and science of choosing the right people for the right job. I hope he will choose the best among the aspirants for the position of chief justice. The rumor of naming Usec. Claire Castro to the post of Associate Justice is a cruel joke indicative of this administration's incompetence in selecting the right people.

We can only mention now, albeit with regretful recollection that FM's Cabinet included the best among the Filipinos, high-caliber appointees like Gen. Carlos P. Romulo who was a secretary general of the United Nations, Blas F. Ople who was elected secretary general of ILO, Cesar Virata, a world-class Finance minister, Onofre Corpus as UP president and DepEd secretary, Gerardo Sicat, Jaime Laya, and Narciso Ramos, a founding father of ASEAN who signed the Bangkok Declaration.

Francis Tolentino was a very good Tagaytay city mayor, an excellent MMDA administrator, and a very good senator. He is a master of the West Philippine Sea issue. He should return to the Senate and teach Robin Padilla a lesson or two. Vince Dizon should be assigned to a job that requires a lot of talking and no action. He can be sent to NATO (No Action, Talk Only) as an adviser or a spokesperson. He is a much better talker than doer.

Let there be no doubt about it. Vince Dizon, Francis Tolentino, and even Jonvic Remulla (who needs a dose of mentoring from his kuya, Boying) are all good men who have been gravely mishandled by the administration. They are good talents who need a good HR intervention.