Musical chairs.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

WHEN President Macapagal-Arroyo first told the Inquirer she intended to further "civilianize" the Department of National Defense by replacing its undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, her move was not proclaimed as the opening salvo in a planned reorganization of the government. However, the Palace quickly followed it up with an announcement that it was undertaking a Cabinet revamp.

As expected, the plan to reorganize the executive branch, which is necessary, has been marred by the usual politicking and clouded by suspicions that it is yet another politically motivated, and therefore opportunistic, move. The reason such suspicions hang over the Palace pronouncements is due to the justification given by the administration for the changes, which is to stem the downward turn in the President's public approval rating.

The President has a mixed record when it comes to appointments. For every Haydee Yorac there's an Ace Durano or more. As a result, a wait-and-see attitude toward whatever changes have been announced is the only sensible tack to take.

The President has broad powers to reorganize the executive department. At crucial periods in our history, presidents have also received from Congress authorization to reorganize the government. This happened with the inauguration of the Commonwealth, the Third Republic, and, by virtue of her revolutionary powers, early in the administration of President Corazon Aquino. The present administration has talked often about the need to streamline the bureaucracy. Merging and abolishing agencies in the executive are things the public would support, if only they were done according to a logical plan. But to date, the public has not been informed of any such plan, if it exists. Instead, it has had to listen to a lot of hype which hasn't been followed up by any substantive change.

Reengineering the executive department requires a lot of study and a great deal of explaining. While we know that a study on reorganizing Malaca[currency]ang itself is underway, we do not know of a larger, well thought-out effort being undertaken with regard to the entire ...