After his coalition failed to dominate the Senate midterm election, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the courtesy resignation of his 52 Cabinet members as a way to evaluate the performance of top officials and improve the delivery of public services.
In a statement last week, the Office of the President stressed that the “time for comfort zones is over.” It added that “the people have spoken, and they expect results – not politics, not excuses. We hear them, and we will act.”
The president’s executive secretary said the Cabinet revamp is “a way to address public frustration over delays in meeting immediate, day-to-day needs.” He said the bold reset requires a “renewed alignment, faster execution, and a results-first mindset.”
So far, Marcos has accepted two resignations and reappointed these Cabinet members to different agencies. The president has also retained his economic team.
Allies of Marcos have welcomed the revamp as a step in the right direction to restore the people’s trust. The League of Cities said it is a reminder that “service to the nation transcends personal interest and partisan politics.” The speaker of the House of Representatives said that the body is ready to work with the new Cabinet to improve the people’s welfare.
But the statement of Senate President Francis Joseph “Chiz” G. Escudero, who supports the reorganization of the Cabinet, alluded to the competing factions within the ruling coalition. “The President’s course correction must include his entire political house, starting with his own backyard. He must distance himself from reckless allies who squandered his goodwill and burned through his political capital for selfish ends,” Escudero said.
The Senate president didn’t identify the “reckless allies” but he must be referring to legislators who led the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte in February.
Even the election campaign manager of the administration coalition has described the loss of some candidates endorsed by the president as a “self-inflicted wound” because of the divisive impeachment issue. He added that the government’s decision to assist the Interpol in arresting former President Rodrigo Duterte in March also gravely affected the chances of pro-Marcos candidates. Duterte has since been transported to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces charges linked to his bloody “war on drugs” campaign.
But a House leader disputed the claim and asserted there was no backlash for legislators who signed the impeachment, and in fact 86 percent of those who supported the removal of Vice President Duterte were reelected in the recent election.
Beyond the bickering of the president’s allies, the Cabinet reshuffle has failed to convince some members of the opposition that the government is sincere in pursuing reforms. One leftist legislator said the president, whose term will end in 2028, is merely “eager to stave off (his) lame duck status.” He also challenged the government to overhaul its macroeconomic policies. “Any reshuffle will be doomed as a mere exercise in image management for as long as President Marcos fails to address the roots of poverty and inequality: the lack of comprehensive agrarian reform and national industrialization policy, continued underfunding of social services, and rampant corruption and political patronage,” the legislator said.
An independent think tank said that the decision to retain the Cabinet’s economic cluster is a sign that elite bias in policymaking will continue to prevail: “How can we expect food to become more affordable, wages to rise, jobs to become plentiful, or health, education and housing services to improve, if the same obsolete neoliberal globalization policy mold remains untouched?”
While welcoming the initiative to upgrade the Cabinet, The Inquirer, a leading newspaper, noted in an editorial that “the bigger crisis is not political but moral.” It advised the president that he must “start acknowledging that the biggest problems are mismanagement and corruption at the top levels of government.”
As of this writing, no big surprises have been announced about the reorganization of the Cabinet. It may take some time before the president makes a final decision but it is expected that the direction of the second half of his presidency will be articulated in his fourth state of the nation address in July.