SEARCH FOR TRUTH

Time’s up!

I serve at the pleasure of the President. This phrase is usually heard as the last line of defense when high executive officials are pressured to explain their conduct. It comes from the latin: durante bene placito regis or during the pleasure of the King. Translation: take it up with my boss – he got my back.

This Monday, DILG Secretary Ismael Sueno discovered first hand how that pleasure can turn into pain. In the most public of venues, his career and his reputation were given the equivalent of an extra judicial killing.

Alter ego. The President does not need a reason to fire his men. As a management matter, he can bring in whoever he wants for his team. After all, under the principle of qualified political agency, their decisions are presumed to be the President’s own. If he no longer trusts you, he should have the luxury to select another of his confidence, ad nauseam. This is the implied contract – don’t unpack your bags.

But Sec. Sueno’s was fired for a reason (I think). We heard words like questionable, legally untenable and, again, whiffs. The President is never misinformed. So what is the next chapter in this story? As they say, you unleash the wind, you abide by its blowing. If not misinformed, shouldn’t he share the basis of the certainty with the country and with the officials themselves? As a matter of fairness, grant them the chance to clear their names by filing the appropriate complaint so that an investigation may be carried out soonest.

To be seen as firm is an aspiration of a leader. But so is to be seen as fair.

Sueno who? The information harvest, each time a member of the Presidential inner circle falls, is really quite bountiful and fresh. One reason for this is because they largely escaped scrutiny in the run up to the election.

President Duterte and his men were an unknown quantity. In contrast, the Liberal Party gravy train under a Mar Roxas administration was poised to keep chugging. The same cast of characters would have held sway, except the Samar group. Under a Jojo Binay presidency, the UNA infrastructure, with well known public personalities were ready to go. President Grace Poe would have also counted on the counsel of several recognizable names. But President Duterte’s men, outside the exceptional performers from the Estrada, Ramos and Arroyo administrations, were newcomers to the national political stage. How, thus, could there be no surprises?

The cavalry. Hence, the impending entrance into the Cabinet of two known quantities is hotly anticipated. We refer, of course, to two of President Duterte’s own Vice Presidential candidates: Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Senator Alan is a mainstay in everyone’s list of exceptional public servants. Whatever headway that the President now makes as a tough talking and iron willed official is something that Sen. Alan has long achieved in the minds of his public. A rightful cause may embolden you but righteous courage is wasted if you don’t know how to use it properly. Sen. Alan, with his scary convergence of brilliance in head and heart has proven that he knows. His biggest turn on stage came at the Senate investigation of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo during the height of President GMA’s power.

Senator Marcos Jr., dogged by ad hominem attacks, is another well known quantity. He is, arguably, one of the best ever qualified to hold the Local Government portfolio. Only Senator Joey Lina, former governor of a major province and formerly a Senator approaches Senator Bongbong’s resume: four-term Ilocos Norte governor; two-term Ilocos Norte congressman and Senator. In the Senate, he chaired the committee on local government and shepherded the debate on the Bangsamoro Basic Law. More than 15 million Filipinos voted for him at the last Vice Presidential elections.

Overtime. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has long supported the position of its Bureau of Immigration (BI) on the right to overtime pay from “shipping and airline companies and other people served.” These fees, collected from the public, now go into an express lane trust fund.

Undisputedly, the Section 7-A of the Immigration Act allows the practice of collecting these overtime payments. But the President disallowed the drawing of the monies from the Express Lane trust fund. Instead, the BI officers are to be paid overtime from the government’s own coffers.

Malacanang is unhappy with how this kitty has been liquidated in the past. If they would like to apply the rule limiting overtime pay to 50 percent of regular pay, then do so. Should there have been anomalies in the distribution in this express lane fund in the past, an investigation would unearth hidden facts. For future use, this is nothing that proper monitoring cannot cure.

DOJ S.O.S. The issue now is a legal one. DBM insisting that funds have been budgeted to defray the overtime payments. BI insists that they can touch the express lane fund and be paid directly by the companies and the people served. An opinion should be issued by the Department of Justice to guide governmental action.

The grant of overtime pay to government employees manning our border entrances, whether they be immigration, internal revenue or customs officers, has long been countenanced by law and by administrative practice. The ingress and egress at our borders are not subject to the limits of regular office hours. Unless we close our air and sea ports when the sun sets, we should be awake to meet the world when they cross our borders 24/7.

But however meritorious they believe their claim to be, there is no legal justification for a work stoppage without observance of the civil service rules on leaves.