TODAY'S EDITORIAL: Doing things in the right order
IT is important to view the actions of the President objectively, and critically when necessary. But the criticism leveled at the President from some quarters over his first two executive orders shows that some are exerting greater efforts to find reasons to be offended than they are understanding the actual substance and context of presidential decisions.
On June 30, shortly after being sworn into office, President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. signed EO 1 and EO 2, which were only made public on Thursday, and now having been published as required by law in a newspaper of general circulation are now in force. EO 1 reorganized the Office of the President by, among other things, abolishing the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission and the office of Cabinet Secretary. EO 2, on the other hand, reset the presidential communications machinery to its pre-2010 state, abolishing the Duterte-era Presidential Communications Operations Office and rolling most of the relevant functions into a streamlined Office of the Press Secretary .In both cases, the objective was to eliminate redundancy in the Malacañang organization, and the President said as much in the text of the two orders. In EO 1, Marcos explained, 'In the face of current health and fiscal crises, the administration endeavors to achieve a comprehensive and meaningful recovery through a just allocation of resources and a simplified internal management and governance of the Office of the President and its immediate offices and common staff support system.'From an external viewpoint, the moves made by the President were the exact, long-overdue prescription for offices that appeared superfluous and politically questionable. The Office of Cabinet Secretary in practice only duplicated functions that are more properly and more effectively carried out by the Executive Secretary and the Presidential Management Staff. In concept it was nothing more than a high-level political patronage post, absorbing a great deal of public resources for no real purpose other than to reward a political ally of the President.The PACC was likewise redundant, and even more politically suspect. Created in 2017, it was intended to 'directly assist the President in investigating and/or hearing administrative cases primarily involving graft and corruption against all presidential appointees,' but was perceived — accurately, we believe — as a means for the president to constrain the work of the Office of the Ombudsman in investigating administration officials. As President Marcos pointed out, the president already has the power to discipline erring officials whose offices fall under presidential authority, and any such assistance as he needs can be provided by the existing Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs.The dissolution of the PCOO is also welcome because it does away with what was an unwieldy and frustrating structure for Palace communications that had at least two heads. There was the PCOO secretary himself , and a presidential spokesman with a separate office, one that was fitting with a revolving door that produced a number of colorful characters as mouthpieces for the president.An efficient organizationCritics that have expressed disappointment in President Marcos' first two EOs, expecting something more than mere 'housekeeping,' are missing an important point. In order to carry out his duties properly and implement policies and programs, the president must be supported by an efficient organization. And, as President Marcos noted, since this organization necessarily exists at public expense, it should be as lean as reasonably possible. Thus, while some public observers might have wished for some grander or more profound pronouncement among the first management decisions of the new president, the more mundane steps to get his own office in order before proceeding further were the correct ones for him to take.Of course, it should be emphasized that streamlining an organization is not an end in itself. That organization must now perform effectively in order for the benefits to be realized, which places a great deal of expectation on the two officials chiefly responsible in this case, Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez and Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles. We wish them well, and hope that their results reflect the confidence with which they seem to be approaching their new duties.
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