In choosing his Cabinet members, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said he picks those who know more than him.
"One of my simplest criteria is: Who knows more than me about this subject?" Marcos said when asked by television host Toni Gonzaga his way of choosing his Cabinet members.
The President said he selects those who are the best in what they do because "the Cabinet level is really (about) capability."
However, the challenge is how to get these people to work for the government when they are already successful in their respective fields.
Marcos said it is their love for the country that made them join his administration.
"Private lang sila (They are really from the private sector) then you ask them to join the government. So the only way that we can — that we have been able to get all of these really, some very brilliant people to join the Cabinet has been — has been really invoked love of country," he said.
Some, if not most, of the Cabinet members tapped by the President are returning government officials who have served in their respective agencies in the past administrations.
He said it is from his Cabinet that he seeks technical advice, not political advice.
"At a certain level in government, you need technocrats. You need advice, technical advice. You don’t need political advice. Well, you get political advice from somewhere else," he said.
"But when it comes to the actual running, the technical nuts and bolts of running the government, the economy especially, you really need technical advice," he added.
In his interview that aired on his birthday, Sept. 13, Marcos said he wants to be a transformative leader.
"Transformative. That we have transformed the government into something that is well attuned and ready and well-positioned for all that is going to come," he said.