PBBM must make his stand

Because he kept silent, his gatekeeper fell.

When then presidential spokesman and legal adviser Atty. Vic Rodriguez failed in his bid to be appointed as executive secretary, it was suggested that it was partly due to the mysterious silence of President Bongbong Marcos in the face of attacks from members of the Commission on Appointments.

Several opinion leaders even pointed out that rarely or never was the nomination of an executive secretary ever blocked or shot down, especially when the President strongly endorsed the candidate. Why the President chose to remain silent remains a mystery, hopefully to be revealed after the administration moves out of Malacañang.

Once again, the same scenario may play out with the same Commission passing the nomination for secretary of health – Ted Herbosa. But unlike Atty. Rodriguez, Herbosa is less of a political personality and has spent most of his time at the DOH or part of the academe. That, of course, does not spare one from “political intrigues” and “professional” sabotage from people or sectors who do not agree with his views on medicine and public administration.

From the little I know of Herbosa, he can be testy, short-tempered at times and has had alliances in the DOH that may have made some enemies for himself. But to be fair and as professionalism requires, I need to point out that the nomination and appointment of Herbosa for secretary of health is in relation to the administration of public health and the pursuit of President Bongbong Marcos’ public health agenda.

Whatever opposition or challenges that are being waged by members of the Commission on Appointments and fellow members of Congress and the Senate must be about his ability and integrity to perform the duties of secretary of health and to lead the department in achieving the PBBM health agenda.

Unfortunately, when one gathers the information on the ground, it seems that the by-passing of the nominee is more about “horse trading” than quality selection and screening. I have been wondering why in our post-pandemic reality, Congress would decide to lop off or chop off P10 billion from the proposed DOH budget for development and expansion of public health