Hindsight, it is often said, is the clearest of all vision. Recalling the past enables us to reflect on lessons learned that have enabled us to move past setbacks and forge ahead to tackle fresh challenges.

Such is the dynamic of top-level governance, as I have learned from experience. My first two stints serving under Presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Ejercito Estrada lasted for a combined total of 45 months. When I accepted appointment in President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet, I was prepared for a similarly brief stint, knowing fully well that one serves at the pleasure of the appointing power.

I was impelled by the recent Cabinet revamp implemented by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to review my perspectives on government service.

While Cabinet appointments are shaped by a dynamic interplay of constitutional procedures, patronage politics and presidential prerogative, I will focus on the informal and political dynamics that I have personally witnessed and experienced.

Truly, a President is well-served by naming as his alter ego senior officials who are evidently well-qualified and recognized in business and the professions for integrity, the Chief Executive invariably taps individuals who are loyal allies and steadfast supporters.

While scholars often posit a dichotomy between technocracy and politics, my own experience tells me that personal bonding between the President and his appointees, on one hand, and among all the Cabinet members on the other hand, is a crucial factor in bringing about esprit de corps.

Throughout his entire six-year term, President Noynoy Aquino made few changes in his Cabinet, such that the word revamp never came up.

One vital factor was PNoy’s leadership and management style. He allowed me to run my department with people with whom I could work and relate well. There was no sweeping revamp or mass hiring of new people across the departments in the executive branch. Cabinet secretaries also refrained from dislodging career officials and replacing these with fresh recruits without previous government service experience. In my office, there were less than 10 undersecretaries or assistant secretaries that were not insiders or career executives — and I made certain that their previous experience would serve them in good stead.

An important learning for me is that there is no significant distinction between working in the private sector and serving in government. Both require a modicum of professional capability. Perhaps, public service demands just a little more patience and a greater measure of tolerance since it caters to a broad cross-section of the citizenry, unlike business firms whose target markets are narrower and more clearly delineated.

Crisis management was a continuing feature of the political landscape during PNoy’s watch.

On his 55th day in office, there was the tourist bus hijacking that ended in the killing of eight Hong Kong tourists. Days earlier, he mulled on declaring Aug. 23, 2010, a Monday, as a special public holiday but decided against it as there were already too many non-working holidays that were frowned upon by multinational investors in big-ticket businesses such as semiconductors and business process outsourcing (BPO) that included call centers.

In 2011, the anti-corruption drive that demonstrated the enforcement of accountability went into high gear.

The impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona commenced in December 2011. He was convicted in May 2012, for failure to disclose fully his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). In November 2011, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was arrested and detained in a government hospital while attempting to leave the country for medical treatment while facing a non-bailable charge of electoral sabotage.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio Morales was appointed as Ombudsman following the resignation of Mercedes Gutierrez who was called to task for not pursuing corruption cases that incurred in the previous administration.

A giant leap was achieved after PNoy made a surprise trip to Japan to meet with Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo to jump-start peace negotiations.

Incidents involving Chinese vessels near the Recto Bank (Reed Bank) prompted the Philippines to push back against Chinese claims and protest Beijing's expansive actions in the disputed areas of the South China Seas that was eventually renamed as the West Philippine Sea.

Typhoon Pablo was formed on Nov. 25, 2012 and caused a deluge in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley at a top speed of 185 kph. It also caused landslides in other parts of Mindanao. It was the first typhoon to visit the area in more than a century.

In 2013, a triad of cataclysmic events occurred: the Zamboanga city crisis triggered by MNLF separatists in September; the Bohol earthquake in October and super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November. In March, an investigation of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles as the alleged mastermind of the malversation of pork barrel funds eventually brought about the arrest and detention of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla.

Team PNoy fared very well in the 2013 midterm elections, securing 9 out of the 12 contested Senate seats. raising hopes for the smooth passage of his reform agenda as the administration controlled both chambers of Congress.

The year 2014 came and went without highly significant events that would parallel those that occurred in the past four years and the last two years of the Aquino administration.

Pope Francis visited Leyte in January 2015. A week later, 44 Special Action Force troopers of the Philippine National Police were killed in the fields of Mamasapano, Maguindanao after the slaying of international terrorist suspect Zulkifli Abdhir (alias Marwan).

By October 2015, candidates for the 2016 national elections had filed certificates of candidacy.

Looking back, it was a whirlwind experience. As I recall and reflect, I gain fresh insights and lessons reinforce my gratitude for the wisdom I have gained. I hope that despite the disappointing scenarios in governance, our youth will actively involve themselves in the issues of the day, and work for the election of the most competent and deserving candidates in 2028.

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