Analysts on Duterte’s Cabinet: ‘Politically smart’ choices

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte begins his 6-year term riding on a growing economy and a record-high trust rating, with Cabinet secretaries who are politically smart choices, analysts said.

Former Ateneo School of Government dean Antonio La Viña said Duterte’s choice of Cabinet secretaries was striking compared to the appointees of his predecessor, former president Benigno Aquino III.

“[Duterte] chose adults. The more I saw them, I felt confidence that these are people who have no learning curve anymore to do [the] things that need to be done,” La Viña told Rappler on Monday, July 25.

Under the Aquino administration, he added, many of the appointees were new to government and struggled to carry out their tasks.

While critics have slammed Duterte for “recycling” officials from the administrations of former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Fidel Ramos, La Viña said that most of the new Cabinet secretaries are “people to be trusted.”

He cited new environment secretary Gina Lopez, whom he called the “most environmentally-oriented secretary since forever,” but added that the known anti-mining advocate should be able to meet the balance of development and environmental protection.

Political psychologist Cristina Montiel also noted that Duterte’s appointees were a mix of those coming from different political backgrounds.

“He has produced perfect balance. If you get somebody very left, you get somebody very right,” she said.

What ties the Cabinet secretaries together, she said, was the personal love for and loyalty to Duterte.

But, she added, this also poses a challenge.

“There’s no principle about mining, or principle about democracy that ties them together. Imagine a wheel with a very strong center. It’s not like a web intermingled that can be semi-self-autonomous and can work among themselves even without that strong center. Now what if that strong center changes or disappears? What happens to the Cabinet?” she said.

Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug, meanwhile, said that the next few months will see how the Cabinet secretaries will interact with each other and how their policies cohere. – Rappler.com