Revocation Of Midnight Appointments: It’s About Who YOU know

Perhaps you’ve heard the axiom “It’s not about what you know but WHO you know.”

In a market economy, this would be less relevant because consumers are reckoned as the empowered political-economic force.

But in a statist economy, where economic opportunities are mostly distributed according to whims or priorities of politicians then this becomes a very influential factor.

And it appears that the second executive order issued by the President Aquino is emblematic of the latter.

This from the Inquirer.net,

President Benigno Aquino III has issued Executive Order No. 2, revoking the “midnight appointments” former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made on or after March 10, Malacañang has announced...

De Mesa said Malacañang found 977 instances wherein the previous administration violated the constitutional ban on appointments two months before the presidential elections and 90 days before the end of Mrs. Arroyo’s term last June 30.

My comment:

1. After the Wang Wang, now political retribution. President Aquino’s thrust seems very much directed at populist politics, obviously aimed at sustaining his high popularity ratings.

Since former President GMA has been intensely unpopular, then piggybacking on vindictive sentiments seems the most apparent way to meet his personal goals (popularity ratings).

However, as we earlier wrote, ``Political gimmickry can only have a short term impact, thus he would need a bagful of other tricks to keep people entertained.”

2. Like any other politician, the President’s action reveals that political loyalty and affiliation have been the primary mechanism to effect ‘changes’.

This implies that preservation of power translates to rewarding supporters and will use such occasion (PGMAs unpopularity) to his advantage.

Hence, the vacated posts will most likely be used for election payback.

Yet, if President Aquino truly desires to seek the betterment of the Philippine society, then he should use this opportunity to trim the bureaucracy. But the latter option is wishful thinking on our part and isn’t likely the course of action.

3. While one may argue that midnight appointments are illegal, they could, technically speaking.

But these types of laws can be arbitrarily interpreted to the convenience of the powers-that-be.

Laws can be perverted to unjustly impose powers over certain groups or to the society for the attainment self-interested political agenda by political leaders.

As Frederic Bastiat wrote in the Law, “they turn to the law for this despotism, this absolutism, this omnipotence.”

And as we’ve been saying all along, we are seeing more and more proof of “the more things change the more they stay the same”.

Elusive dreams will remain ever elusive.