A public servant can serve government in many ways.
One can work under the Executive or Legislative branches, from the lowest local government level, the barangay, to the national scope. Constituents just have to be convinced that the candidate is worth electing into office.
It’s tough work and big money, running for election. One has to go around shaking people’s hands, delivering speeches and most importantly raising money to fund one’s campaign. Sometimes the rivalry is intense, even fatal.
Another way to serve in government is to get oneself appointed. Primary examples of these are the Cabinet secretaries who are nominated by the President, not necessarily because they are the best persons for the job, but because they enjoy the appointing power’s confidence—however they may have earned it: through familiarity, personal history, friendship, prior working relationship, first impressions, credentials.
The president does not need to justify his decision—so long as the appointees hurdle the Commission on Appointments. Previous chief executives have also tried to circumvent this system by reappointing their chosen ones when Congress is in recess.
An overused phrase is that these appointees serve “at the pleasure of the president.” It does not make it any less true. They are not called alter egos of the president for nothing. Thus, while they are responsible for their decisions in their respective spheres, in the end whatever they do is still considered an act of the president.
This “pleasure” extends itself in a number of ways. It means the president can deal with the appointees however way he wishes. He could be collegial, but he could also be boorish or patronizing. He can even refuse to take them seriously or refuse to talk to them personally, relaying his message through another.
We may have our own opinions about all this, but in the end, the phrase —the president’s prerogative—remains.
Cabinet officials who feel they cannot be one with the appointing power have their work cut out for them. They can express their differing opinion, or agree to disagree, but in the end a choice has to be made for them to be deemed effective in their jobs—and be perceived as having even a modicum of delicadeza.
Sometimes, however, the differences are just too great. Rather than make the Executive branch appear as though it has multiple personalities with discordant voices, perhaps it is best to get out—and serve in other capacities if they feel they must stay in the public sphere.