PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday reiterated that non- or poor-performing appointees in his administration would be out as he emphasized that it is no longer “business as usual” in government.
The President, in the first part of the second podcast episode, emphasized that every official in his administration must meet the targets and goals set up for their agencies or departments, regardless if they are part of the legacy infrastructure projects, big-ticket items, or even for everyday public services or issues such as missing trash bins and broken escalators.
“From now on, we will really, be very, very conscientious of hitting our targets on time, and that’s the important thing. And that applies not only to the very big legacy projects,” he said in mixed Filipino and English in the second podcast episode titled “Governance and Accountability” that was released yesterday.
Marcos said he no longer wants the government to follow the “business-as-usual” mindset which he said has not led the country anywhere and failed to solve the country’s many problems.
“I really don’t like ‘business as usual’ because we have so many problems; they became problems precisely because we’ve been ‘business as usual’ for so long,” he said.
The President late in May ordered all Cabinet members to submit courtesy resignations amid a performance evaluation being undertaken as part of efforts to recalibrate his administration.
Marcos said the results of the midterm elections, where barely half of his endorsed candidates won, showed that the people are already tired of politics and disappointed with the services of government.
The President, in the podcast, said his appointees’ failure to meet targets and his expectations will have consequences, regardless if they are his friends or not.
Marcos said that in the military, discipline and performance are strictly enforced and excuses are not accepted which is what he would do with the agencies and officials who fail to deliver.
“We have to be very, very strict. Kahit kaibigan kita, mahal kita at lahat, pero hindi mo nagagawa ‘yung trabaho. Hindi naman ito tungkol sa pagkakaibigan o pagmamahal natin sa isa’t isa, kung hindi para sa serbisyo para sa tao (We have to be very, very strict. Even if we’re friends, I care about you and all that—but if you’re not doing your job. This is not about our friendship or care for each other, but about serving the people),” he said.
Marcos, as part of the governance reset that he is implementing, is more visible in public visiting different facilities, program implementation, project launches and those that are already ongoing to ensure that those reported to him are really true.
He said he has had experiences where official reports presented misleading pictures.
He said when he asked officials to explain and they failed to convince him, he let them go.
He said he usually does not make it public, but he would sometimes just fire them and tell them to just “get out of the way, so that I can do my job.”
The President last week said he is almost done with performance evaluation of the Cabinet and has moved on to the lower levels.
