Malacañang’s immediate response dismissing as irrelevant calls by its less enlightened leaders for a loyalty check of Lakas-Kampi-CMD members and officials, including members of the Arroyo Cabinet, was a forthright decision that should serve as warning to overzealous partisans.

Putting in question the loyalty of party members, and particularly members of the administration officialdom is a blatant disservice both to the government and the political organization.

Not only that it creates tension within the party, suspicion of disloyalty is known to be a psychological warfare used to destroy organizations and their leaders.

The suggestion to conduct loyalty check was prompted by the reported “heightened suspicion of massive shift of allegiance among party members before the November deadline of the filing of certificates of candidacy.”

The political commotion centers primarily on a supposed statement of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo that he preferred Liberal Party nominee Senator Noynoy Aquino over Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro who is the administration bet for the 2010 presidential elections.

The statement at once triggered reactions that demanded the resignations of Cabinet members who cannot toe the line drawn up by Malacañang.

It was an ultimatum issued, of all people, by the secretary to the Cabinet moralizing that leaving the Arroyo government was the “honorable thing” to do for those Cabinet officials who cannot support the administration bets.

How could a secretary to the Cabinet lecture on what is honorable for his bosses to do?

It was, of course, a reiteration of an earlier demand by Speaker Prospero Nograles, vice-chairman of the Lakas-Kampi, who said Romulo and all other Cabinet members who have different candidates than the administration’s should tender their resignations.

But it appears Nograles’ rash pronouncement was just an unfortunate burst of partisan temperament as he later corrected himself, explaining that the decision to check on the faithfulness of party members and officials should be left to the discretion of Teodoro himself who is the party’s standard-bearer.

Nograles even voiced self-doubt on his earlier suggestion that Secretary Romulo should resign from his Cabinet post, acknowledging that the foreign affairs secretary is a “very, very decent and upright man.”

Let us respect the man, he said, referring to Romulo, adding that “I truly respect him.”

Even so, Secretary Romulo has declared he had no intention of “siding with the opposition,” stressing that he would “stand by President Arroyo until the end of her term and beyond.”

What is notable about the man, if I may say so, is the consistency with which the ideals, and the intellectual and moral standards which he had acquired and nurtured during his years both in private and public service are applied to his political life, no matter the difficulties to which it may lead.

He made it clear that his comments, however much it might be interpreted by others, “do not in any way diminish my service and support for President Arroyo.”

Well, amid the commotion and brouhaha created by the loyalty check proposal, it appears all is well in the political fronts of both the administration and the opposition sides – at least for now.

(zhern_218@yahoo.com)