The Philippine Online Chronicles

Analysts seem to be mixed with regard to Mar Roxas taking on the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) portfolio. That instead of being Chief of Staff, a mere cabinet position would seem like a demotion. Blogger Doy Santos asked the question if the Bromance has ended. And I generally think Roxas taking on the Department of Transportation and Communications is a politically astute move.

We already mentioned that the position of Chief of Staff was one can of worms. It is a consensus as to how Aquino would separate the roles of the Executive Secretary and the Chief of Staff. The Palace for instance never really got to the point of saying how they would do it. The responsibilities of the Chief of Staff and the Executive Secretary do overlap by tradition and by law.

So I think the DOTC opening up and Aquino appointing Roxas into the position solves the embarrassment potential of having the Executive Secretary and the Chief of Staff having overlapping functions . We've already seen how much of mainstream media has taken to the Comm Group overlapping functions. It also gives Roxas the level of importance he deserves, and can always be on call to advice the president.

Rumor has it that the Vice President has had a hand in getting Roxas the DOTC position, in some internal power play by the supposed fractions in the Palace. This is an interesting gamble. It assumes that Roxas is being setup to fail. It assumes that Roxas doesn't have the mantle to take on the beast that is DOTC.

On the flip side, the Department of Transportation and Communications is a lead agency for Public Private Partnership programs which the President says is part of his economic agenda. Not only part of his economic agenda, but the sword of that agenda.

The PPP has been critiqued to take a long time coming. In fact, the projects announced during the first round were not exactly new projects.

It has been argued in the past that Fidel Ramos won the presidency in 1992 because of the network he built while Defense Secretary. He had time to go around the country and communicating with the local governments from every corner of the Philippines.

PPP is a series of higher level projects that could take Roxas in just about every part of the country. So a lot of it really falls on Roxas executing properly. A better RoRo where a lot of our countrymen take going to and from their native provinces could have Roxas' name sound sweet. Better trains, and improved MRT/LRT could very well make Roxas’ name sound much better. Can you imagine Roxas building trains that interconnect Northern and Southern Luzon? The public relations mileage of that could potentially overshadow other competitors for the crown in 2016.

If Roxas would also consider the South Korean Internet model, and this form of communication is an important piece of infrastructure whose economic significance is now considered just as important as roads, railways and electricity.

The presumptive top dog for 2016 right now is Vice President Binay. His track record with the city of Makati is part of his resume. Why else do you think he is always in the news, taking on controversial stories like Marcos burial? It doesn't matter whether or not he is contrarian, just the mere mention of his name keeps his name recognition alive.

The position of Housing Czar doesn't seem to do much good for anyone. The housing position didn't help Noli de Castro's image as someone who could be President. And it doesn't seem indicative to help Binay out in 2016.

So going back to Roxas on DOTC, this could potentially show voters that he isn't Mrs. Korina Sanchez. Roxas did better when he was Commerce Secretary. As Senator he never really got better as a politician.

Of course it goes without saying that the risks involved with running DOTC is phenomenal, to say the least. Mr. Roxas will be inheriting a lot of problems, least of which is the LTO debacle.

The position of Chief of Staff would have brought a can of worms. It would have given Mr. Roxas the position of minister without portfolio. It would have looked like a political move to serve as a political reward. Having Roxas as DOTC secretary makes it less a political move but nonetheless an astute one. At the very least Roxas on DOTC could prove whether or not he is the best troubleshooter there is.

Is Aquino selling Roxas short by giving him the DOTC portfolio? He could very well be giving his friend the ticket to succeed him as President. For Roxas, the reward of succeeding as Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications could be the Presidency. Again, these are loads of "IF"s, and would really greatly depend on how well Mr. Roxas executes.

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