President Aquino is the leader of the nation. After supertyphoon Yolanda ravaged the nation, Aquino is supposed to lead in its rehabilitation. It is a job that the Constitution mandates him to do to the best of his ability, a job that he cannot delegate to anyone else, so help him God.
But true to form, Aquino prefers to shrink from the scene. He instead appointed former senator Panfilo Lacson as rehabilitation czar, to do what he as president should be doing. As to why he chose Lacson who doesn't have the credentials for the job, it is pointless to ask. Aquino doesn't follow any logical paths.
Aquino's appointment of Lacson is made even more illogical by the fact that weeks before the appointment, he already created a supercommittee to do precisely what he is now asking Lacson to do. Surely he couldn't have forgotten because he constituted his entire Cabinet as the supercommittee's membership.
He couldn't have forgotten because he named not just one but three Cabinet members to head the committee -- Cabinet Secretary Jose Almendras, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla and Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
Aquino couldn't have forgotten because, aside from tasking the committee to oversee rehabilitation, he also couldn't resist the urge to include one of those quirky little extras that are close to his heart -- to find a culprit for the disaster that is Tacloban.
With two entities charged with rehabilitation, does it mean there will be a two-pronged effort on the part of government to rehabilitate the nation? If so, will the two-pronged effort be similar, and in pursuit of the same direction? Or will there be two different strategies, each pursuing a different goal.
And then there is the matter of coordination, or in all likelihood, supremacy. Will Lacson as rehab czar have ascendancy over the supercommittee, or will the supercommittee be superior to Lacson? Who reports to whom or will both be reporting individually to Aquino, each with their separate takes on rehabilitation?
One other thing, which many apparently missed because of this confusing state of affairs -- Where is Mar Roxas in all of this? Aside from ordinary membership in the supercommittee as a Cabinet member, he seems to have been left out in the special mentions and the specific assignments.
Lacson, on the other hand, aside from getting plucked out of the blue, now finds himself in charge of the P40 billion kitty for rehabilitation. How instructive for him to promise to get his job done by 2016. That seems perfectly in time for the presidential election, when he and Roxas will likely clash.