“But for people who thrive in pressure and can roll with the punches, the reward can be enormous.”
The resignation of Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez generated a lot more questions than putting anything to rest. For the past several weeks we have been reading reports of him resigning.
His standing down instead exposed to the public the infighting going on among the factions in the President’s camp.
To some people, it would seem that the reign of the so-called little president abruptly ended before it could start.
But has it really? What has happened is that instead of Vic Rodriguez packing his bags to go home, he simply transferred his office because he has just been designated as the new Presidential Chief of Staff.
It shows that PBBM is not ready to part ways with his trusted man who has been with him thru thick and thin.
For people who are knowledgeable of how the Palace works and operates, there are some unavoidable overlapping of functions between Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff.
Some would even say that Vic Rodriguez has become even more powerful in his new appointment because, this time, he has more leeway to maneuver and operate politically.
In the past several days, there have been several trolls circulating in social media as to what triggered the reshuffle.
One of the theories circulating is that Vic Rodriguez and wife have accumulated dozens of bank accounts here and abroad amounting to millions in different currencies.
There is even one questioning the wife’s family owning a rural bank. I do not know Vic Rodriguez and wife.
I have never met them. But people trying to bring him down should have at least done their research thoroughly to come out with realistic and believable charges.
How could the couple have opened all those bank accounts all and deposited millions in the very short time that he has been in office? 75 days is not enough time for the couple to open all those bank accounts and deposit and transfer all those foreign currencies.
Money transfers as we know always leave paper trails. If true, this should therefore be easy to trace.
The Rural Bank that the wife’s family owns has been, as I understand, in operation for many years long before Vic Rodriguez entered government service. This bank, therefore, could not be the result of Vic Rodriguez being the Executive Secretary.
From what I have been able to gather, the principal cause of the infighting inside the Palace is apparently due to the appointment of public officials.
One faction it appears has recommended several people to be appointed but not one of them was appointed.
Another faction has been questioning the wholesale replacement of officials with new appointees. Because of this, the two factions appear to have joined forces to bring down Vic Rodriguez.
But what happened as we have seen is that PBBM appointed Vic Rodriguez as his Chief of Staff which, if analyzed, may not be the best solution.
Why? Because although it solves part of the problem, it also creates other problems. It will for instance create another power center in the Palace.
But since Vic Rodriguez will no longer be signing appointment papers, perhaps this will satisfy the faction wanting a number of people to be appointed.
This, however, is just postponing the inevitable showdown which will come somewhere along the line if PBBM will not step in and resolve the conflict with finality which he has to do for him to take control of his administration.
Allowing the infighting to continue might affect negatively the administration’s programs and other agenda.
To many people, working in Malacanang may appear to be the ultimate reward if one is working for the government.
This is partly true because it could be a rewarding experience. It can be compared to working in the White House or Buckingham Palace.
But sometimes Malacanang, as many have found out too late, could also be a snake pit where careers can be destroyed and ideals broken.
But for people who thrive in pressure and can roll with the punches, the reward can be enormous.
This is why many still aspire to work there and why not? The very word Malacanang alone evokes power and authority which is intoxicating to many.
What we are witnessing that is going on there right now is just, shall we say, routine. It happens all the time.
Only this time, the factions that are fighting decided to do it openly without giving due regard to the damage it will do to the President’s leadership which has taken a hit.
All the quarreling factions should be thinking first and foremost about protecting the interest of the President. After all, they all work for PBBM. Clearly, we have not seen the end of this sordid episode.
We have seen Vic Rodriguez being floored after taking a punch in the chin. He was however, able to get up and still up and about fighting.
The next chapter should even be more interesting.