Working in Malacañang: Reflections and insights

Hindsight, it is often said, is the clearest of all vision. Recalling the past enables us to reflect on lessons learned that have enabled us to move past setbacks and forge ahead to tackle fresh challenges.

- SONNY COLOMA

ENDOR CULAVERA

Such is the dynamic of top-level governance, as I have learned from experience. My first two stints serving under Presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Ejercito Estrada lasted for a combined total of 45 months. When I accepted appointment in President Benigno Aquino III's Cabinet, I was prepared for a similarly brief stint, knowing fully well that one serves at the pleasure of the appointing power.

I was impelled by the recent Cabinet revamp implemented by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to review my perspectives on government service.

While Cabinet appointments are shaped by a dynamic interplay of constitutional procedures, patronage politics and presidential prerogative, I will focus on the informal and political dynamics that I have personally witnessed and experienced.

Truly, a President is well-served by naming as his alter ego senior officials who are evidently well-qualified and recognized in business and the professions for integrity, the Chief Executive invariably taps individuals who are loyal allies and steadfast supporters.

While scholars often posit a dichotomy between technocracy and politics, my own experience tells me that personal bonding between the President and his appointees, on one hand, and among all the Cabinet members on the other hand, is a crucial factor in bringing about esprit de corps.

Throughout his entire six-year term, President Noynoy Aquino made few changes in his Cabinet, such that the word revamp never came up.