Mounting resignations signal implosion of Estrada Cabinet
Mounting resignations signal implosion of Estrada Cabinet
By Amando Doronila
MANILA: The resignation of Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas III
from the Cabinet is a crippling blow to the Estrada
administration. It is expected to touch off a chain of
resignations, including the defection of the President's team of
economic managers, signaling the implosion of the Cabinet.
Roxas' resignation followed closely the resignation early this
week of four pillars of the Philippine business community --
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Washington SyCip, former Prime
Minister Cesar Virata and former Sen. Vicente Paterno -- from
President Estrada's Council of Senior Economic Advisers.
Roxas' resignation and those of the economic advisers are more
devastating than the resignation from the Cabinet two weeks ago
of Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The resignations highlighted the rapidly disintegrating
support for the President. The collective weight of these
resignations puts in serious doubt the survival of the Estrada
administration which is facing a snowballing public demand for
the President to step down to save the economy from collapse.
These resignations are comparable in their impact as catalysts
in unraveling a government as the military mutiny of former
Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Gen. Fidel Ramos against
President Marcos in February 1986.
Although Roxas' resignation letter did not state clearly the
reason for his quitting the Cabinet, what matters in the balance
of forces as the President's support inside his administration
dwindles is that he quit. That fact alone had the impact of tons
of TNT.
Estrada plucked out Roxas from the House (he was a majority
leader) in a Cabinet revamp last January to show that he was
determined to give the nation a "new and honest government in the
new millennium." Roxas quit in the midst of scandal of
corruption, triggered by allegations by Gov. Luis "Chavit"
Singson that the President had received more than P400 million in
jueteng kickbacks and P130 million in tobacco excise taxes.
The resignations of the four leaders of the business community
are equally wounding. Together with Roxas and the new members of
the Cabinet announced in January during his report to the nation,
the business leaders were presented as a powerful dynamo that
would spark a better economic performance than that of the
previous year.
The recruitment of the four was intended to introduce the
private business sector into the policymaking mechanisms of
government. In political terms, the President coopted the private
business sector to be represented in the Council of Senior
Economic Advisers and a parallel organization, the Economic
Coordinating Council, to give legitimacy to his administration.
At the time, the President was under fire for maintaining a
"dual" government -- the first, composed of his official Cabinet,
and the other the cabal of shadowy non-salaried advisers holding
sessions with him after midnight amid drinking sessions.
In his Cabinet revamp last January, he dismissed these
advisers but the Cabinet overhaul and the dismissal of the
"midnight" advisers did little to improve the performance of the
government as an economic manager to drive economic recovery and
to give the country an "honest" administration.
It has been reported that the senior economic advisers had
decided to stop lending their names to "legitimize the
administration." Their resignation is thus another blow to the
legitimacy of the Estrada administration.
When the President announced his Cabinet revamp and his new
recruits of senior economic advisers last January, he said he had
read the message of the people and the message was that they
wanted an honest and effective government. The President was
referring to the fall of his job performance rating in public
opinion surveys.
The resignation of the four representatives of the business
community represents the formal withdrawal of their community's
support for and active participation in the government's economic
effort to lead the economy out of the devastation inflicted by
the 1997 Asian financial meltdown.
Their resignation followed the rapid polarization of the
business community against the administration. During the past
week, 12 business groups, including the Makati Business Club, the
Management Association of the Philippines, and the Bishops-
Businessmen's Conference -- have joined the swirling tide of
demands for the President's resignation.
The resignation of Roxas indicates that the President's line
of defense in the Cabinet is crumbling. Roxas, after Vice
President Macapagal, punched a big breach in the Cabinet's fagade
of solidarity.
The rest of the economic managers -- including Agriculture
Secretary Edgardo Angara, Finance Secretary Jose Pardo, who is
the brother-in-law of Vicente Paterno, Socioeconomic Planning
Secretary Felipe Medalla -- have less reason to stay in the
Cabinet after Roxas' resignation signaled the message that he
could not serve in an administration that has lost nearly
universal confidence from the citizens, the international
business and media communities and from the business community
itself.
These resignations could only put more pressure to weaken the
President's few remaining political control mechanisms --
Congress where he is facing impeachment charges. There have
already been defections from the President's LAMP coalition whose
unity is fraying at the edges. After the resignations, defections
can only turn into an avalanche.
The main pressure that is pulling down the Estrada
administration comes from a deteriorating economy. The unrest in
the street, which is developing into another people power
manifestation, contributes to the pressure on the President, on
Congress and the Cabinet.
But the withdrawal of the business community's support for the
President is the strongest force acting on the Cabinet to abandon
the President. At this point, all the President's conciliatory
overtures to bring his opponents to help him overcome the crisis
have become irrelevant.
-- The Philippine Daily Inquirer / Asia News Network