Trapo after all?

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IS President Duterte turning out to be a trapo (traditional politician) after all? His budget secretary has indicted, so to speak, his boss as just another promising politician, one who makes promises that cannot be fulfilled once elected.

Mr. Duterte got much flak for vacillating over a P2,000-a-month raise he promised SSS pensioners. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said what “candidate Duterte” promised and what President Duterte can do are two different things.

That’s saying that one, Duterte didn’t know what he was talking about when he made the promise. Or two, he’s just another traditional politician who promises the moon to get elected.

During the presidential debates, he bragged about getting on a jet-ski and going to the Spratlys to plant the Philippine flag in defiance of China’s intrusive activities there.

He boasted about subduing the Abu Sayyaf in one week. He belittled the strength and staying power of the Maute Group in Davao.

He promised to destroy Sen. Leila de Lima, calling her an immoral woman and intimately involved with drug lords and in the illegal drug trade. And yet, despite assurances of his talkative justice secretary that they have airtight cases against the senator, they haven’t filed any credible cases against her.

And now his curious appointments. First, Martin Dino as chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, which was patently a political payback for Dino giving way to Duterte to run for president last May.

And then Mocha Uson, a sexy dancer and sex blogger (who likes to call Duterte-bashers “mga bugok”), to be a board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. Which is like appointing Kerwin Espinoza as the drug czar.

I’ve not criticized the President’s appointments before. It’s because I’m not particularly concerned about who gets appointed as long they’re capable of doing their jobs and that they’re people of integrity.

(I’m not even concerned about nepotism, the practice of appointing family members or close friends. My personal joke about nepotism is that it’s okay as long as you keep it within the family.)

What I’m pointing out here is that obvious payback appointments make the appointing power just another old-style politician who pays back political favors with appointments.

I don’t care who gets appointed. But if they mess up, then they should answer for their mistakes.

In the end, the appointing power is responsible for his or her appointments. If and when they fail to perform according to expectations and the law, then the appointing power must be taken to task for the failures.

It seems Mr. Duterte doesn’t bother about vetting some of his appointments. Incoming presidents usually have a vetting or selection committee to pour over prospective appointees’ resumes. And during a president’s incumbency it’s the function of the presidential management staff to check out candidates for positions in the executive branch.

The bottom line is that it’s the prerogative of the president to appoint anyone he likes. The Roman emperor Caligula made his horse Incitatus a senator and promised to appoint him a consul.

A leader’s appointments define not only his administration but also his own character and ability to detect talent and abilities. If we go by those standards, executive appointments aren’t simple sinecures to be dispensed whimsically to pay back past favors.

Or maybe they are, if you’re a trapo.

*** Tantrum Ergo. Why do our TV newscasters yell at us, the audience, when they deliver the news? When they do that, they sound like fishmongers at the wet market. Or jeepney barkers enticing passengers.