Photo credit: PCO

Every day, ordinary Filipinos wake up to the same struggles: overpriced meals due to soaring food prices, exhausting commutes worsened by chaotic traffic management, endless MRT lines, underpaid jobs, and parents worrying about their children’s school allowance or what food to put on the table for dinner.

At night, they return to homes with intermittent water, unaffordable electricity, and a growing sense of helplessness.

Sick family members line up at public hospitals, only to be told there’s no money left in PhilHealth. Many die without treatment or worse, without enough to bury their dead.

We thought the President understood this message during the 2025 elections. He said as much in his podcast that Filipinos were fed up.

We assumed he would take drastic action, finally break free from his bubble, and surround himself with real performers, not protectors of mediocrity.

But disappointingly, nothing changed.

Instead of responding to the people’s call with decisive reform, President Marcos Jr. merely reshuffled the same losing deck. Some call it a loyalty purge. Others say it’s just musical chairs.

Either way, the ones let go were mostly small fry, 'gurami' in tagalog, not the big fish.

Even those removed, like former SolGen Menardo Guevarra, were perceived to be competent and had the courage to defy the administration at key moment.

Meanwhile, those whose failures are plain to see who continue to damage the President’s own credibility remain inexplicably protected.

Among those retained or quietly reassigned were:

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, who authorized the transfer of PhilHealth funds to fund congressional infrastructure projects while Filipinos died in public hospitals without aid.

He has also not opposed the bills lowering of taxes on mining companies nor stopped the legislative push to sabotage the sin tax regime. Marcos, Jr., chose not a real economist, but a traditional politician with Senate credentials.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, whose unclear resignation status became a diplomatic distraction. His appointment as UN Permanent Representative appears more like a 'pakunswelo' than a promotion.

DENR Secretary Raphael Lotilla, reassigned after leading the Department of Energy through a time of soaring electricity prices. His transfer reeks of quiet recycling, not reform.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., under whom rice and food prices remained volatile, with no major breakthrough in productivity or self sufficiency.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, a long time Marcos buddy with little to show in actual land redistribution or agrarian justice.

MMDA Chairman Romando Artes, whose tenure has been defined by worsening traffic, flood mismanagement, and visible urban decay in Metro Manila despite being a protégé of a recently defeated BBM ally.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, who failed to meet even the government's modest tourist arrival targets.

Trade and Industry Secretary Cristina Roque, whose leadership has yet to address the pressing concerns of job creation and economic growth.

TESDA Director General Jose Francisco Benitez, whose impact on workforce upskilling remains negligible.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, a returning appointee who has shown no urgency in addressing job mismatches, wage stagnation, or workers’ welfare.

Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, the last to know that his department’s ayuda programs were being used to buy votes, revealing both a lack of control and the absence of genuine social welfare direction.

Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr., mostly invisible in one of the most innovation starved administrations in decades.

DICT Secretary Henry Aguda, with little to no visible impact on national connectivity or cybersecurity.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara, whose department has yet to address learning poverty, as reflected in recent studies showing declining literacy and comprehension rates among Filipino students.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, whose role is now more symbolic but who perhaps is the only one on this list with a historical claim to intellectual caliber, having served in Marcos Sr.’s formidable Cabinet.

Presidential Anti Poverty Commission’s Larry Gadon, best known for inflammatory behavior and disbarment, not any credible anti poverty outcomes.

The Palace Communication Team: The silent PCO Secretary Jay Ruiz and BBM’s media briefer, whose defensive and condescending tone and failure to generate goodwill only worsen public sentiment.

Instead of bridging the Palace to the people, they deepen the divide and damage the President’s credibility.

These are the faces of the administration that the President chose to keep. A team that has failed not just in policy, but in delivering on the most basic, everyday needs of the Filipino.

If this is President Marcos Jr.’s idea of the "best and brightest," then he has profoundly misread what the public truly needs.

It is not simply about loyalty, pedigree, or proximity to power. It’s about skills, competence, empathy, and trust.

Compare this to his father’s Cabinet during the early years of the Marcos Sr. regime.

That team included technocrats and statesmen, then called ministers, such as Finance Minister Cesar Virata, Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos P. Romulo, Economic Planning Minister Gerry Sicat, Education Minister Jaime Laya, Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin, Transportation Minister Jose Dans, Agriculture Minister Arturo “Bong” Tanco, and Energy Minister Geronimo Velasco.

Whatever one may say about the elder Marcos’s politics, his Cabinet was known for competence, discipline, and intellect, many of them respected long after they left office.

President Marcos Jr.’s choices, in contrast, reveal a troubling pattern: loyalty over ability, connections over competence, and survival over service.

The nation is not asking for miracles. Filipinos simply want leaders who can do their jobs with urgency, integrity, and heart.

They want officials who feel the weight of a mother who lost her child because public hospitals don’t have medicines. Or a father who can’t bring home rice because prices have doubled. Of workers forced to walk home because they need to save money for their children’s 'baon' the following day.

But what do they see? A government trapped in its own echo chamber, rewarding the wrong people, and punishing those who dared to do right.

Until President Marcos Jr. finds the courage to break this cycle, the cries from the streets will only grow louder.

He can still choose a different path. But every day he hesitates, he loses not just time, but the trust of the people.

Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa, Mr. President?

In the end, not even the most loyal Cabinet can save a President who chooses the comfort of mediocrity over the cries of his people.

Ed Javier

Ed Javier is a veteran communicator with over 34 years of professional experience both in the private and public sectors. He is also an entrepreneur, political analyst, newspaper columnist, broadcast and on-line journalist.