Something new, something old, something borrowed, not blue but yellow.

This is how political observers view the composition of the President Benigno Aquino III’s official family, which the new Philippines president convened after administering their oath of office in Malacanang, shortly after taking his own in simple but festive rites at the Quirino grandstand before noon of June 30.

There was no cabinet position for Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay, who successfully ran under the losing presidential bid of ousted former President Joseph Estrada.   According to news reports, Binay had declined the positions offered to him by President Aquino, who is not bound by precedent to include the vice-president in his cabinet.

Earlier in press interviews, Binay had manifested interest in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), an influential position for the launching of future presidential bids.  It was not among those position offered to Binay by the new president.  President Aquino meantime will take direct charge of DILG until he has made his personal choice for the cabinet position.

The new cabinet is an admixture of new and old faces in the political scene who had supported President Aquino in the last electoral campaign, and previously that of his mother, Cory, who was catapulted to the presidency after the 1986 People’s Power revolt that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.  Yellow was the campaign colours of both Aquinos, taken from a popular ditty, in memory of the president’s father, the martyred Senator Benigno Aquino, who was gunned down at the Manila airport tarmac upon returning from self-exile abroad in 1983.

“You will see old and new faces. You will see the young and also young. But the bottom line is: These are the people who I believe have committed to the philosophy that the problems in this country are solvable, and have the energy and commitment to sacrifice and do the necessary things to effect the changes the people are aspiring for,” Aquino was quoted as saying of his official family in a news conference.

Notably, none of his relatives were appointed by Aquino to his cabinet or to any key government position.

Official family
The new faces in Aquino’s official family are Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and Secretaries Voltaire Gazmin (defense), Br. Armin Luistro (education), Proceso Alcala (agriculture), Enrique Ona (health), Alberto Lim (tourism), Mario Montejo (science and technology), Jose Rene Almendras (energy), and Virgilio delos Reyes (agrarian reform).

Also new are Julia Andrea Abad, Presidential Management Staff chief; Edwin Lacierda and Eduardo de Mesa, Aquino’s spokesperson and chief legal counsel, respectively; and Patricia Licuanan, Commission on Higher Education chair.

The others who have served in previous administrations are Secretaries Alberto Romulo (foreign affairs), Cesar Purisima (finance), Leila de Lima (justice), Florencio “Butch” Abad (budget), Cayetano Paderanga (socioeconomic planning), Jose de Jesus (transportation and communication), Gregorio Domingo (trade and industry), Corazon “Dinky” Soliman (social welfare), and Rogelio Singson (public works), and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto Henares, and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita “Ging” Deles.

Aquino also chose two career officers to head their departments—Environment Secretary Ramon Paje and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Aquino also announced that Maj. Gen. Ricardo David would succeed Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Delfin Bangit, and that Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Versoza would stay on until his retirement in December.

Aquino admitted that a significant number of his appointees were from the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but he said he chose them because were still the best men and women for the job.

“A lot of them were from the ‘Hyatt 10.’ They got out of government based on their principles,” Aquino said of the 10 officials who quit their posts in 2005, at the height of the “Hello Garci” election fraud scandal, and called on Ms Arroyo to do the same.

Political nexus
Ochoa, Almendras and Henares are Aquino’s close friends. Romulo, De Jesus and Paderanga served the late former President Corazon Aquino; Gazmin served as security aide during her term.

Abad, Purisima, Deles and Soliman are members of the Hyatt 10; Luistro is from the Black and White Movement.

Insiders say nearly a third of the 26 cabinet appointees (Purisima, Paderanga, Domingo, Abad, Lim, Soliman, Lacierda and Deles) were backed by the Liberal Party and his defeated running mate, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, its president.

The insider said this showed the strong influence of Roxas, who purportedly had control of the economic team and had sacrificed his presidential ambition and given way to Aquino.

There were also speculations, though denied by Aquino, that some of the appointees were merely warming up their seats for Aquino supporters who could not be appointed due to the year-long ban on losing candidates being named to government positions.  It was speculated that Secretary Romulo was just warming up the foreign affairs seat for Roxas, who would have secured the position had he won in the last elections, as practiced by previous administrations.

Sacrifices
Aquino said many of his appointees had to make personal sacrifices, such as a substantial cut in their paychecks. He said this was why a number of them had asked that they be allowed to stay only for one or two years.

“I cannot ask them to commit six years. The bottom line is, I don’t think they will leave the Cabinet if they have to leave it without attending to the major concerns or putting the necessary corrective actions in place,” he said.

“There could be a lot of changes in one year. Some of those who are interested might change their minds. ... We can cross the bridge later on,” he said.