“Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.” — William Cowper

The so-called exodus from the Arroyo administration should not come, as a surprise as the lights start to dim and the curtain descends on the Arroyo government.

Truth to tell, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had served or worked with three presidents in different capacities during which time she had accumulated a vast number of friends and new acquaintances from different political parties and from the private sector.

That is why upon her ascendancy to the presidency, she was able to cobble together these disparate groups to form the Arroyo administration.

To start with, President Gloria Arroyo was an Aquino executive in the Department of Trade and Industry.
She subsequently became a popular senator during President Fidel V. Ramos’ watch when President Arroyo was invited to run for vice president under the ill-starred presidential bid of Speaker Jose de Venecia.

As we all remember, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada ran away with the election in a landslide victory for the opposition while the administration candidate, then Senator Arroyo, won the vice presidency also by a landslide.

President Estrada subsequently recruited Vice President Gloria Arroyo as a member of the Estrada Cabinet. Vice President Arroyo later resigned from the Cabinet when the Estrada regime started listing towards EDSA-II.

As they say, the rest is history.

In the process of assembling a government in the aftermath of the Estrada ouster, and her assumption of office as a result of People Power II, President Gloria Arroyo had the advantage and freedom to recruit talents, friends and opportunists from three previous administrations.

Thus, it is no surprise that the Arroyo administration, from the Cabinet to agency heads, is an eclectic mixture of Cory loyalists, Marcos survivalists, FVR boys, and Erap loyalists.

Hence, is there such a thing as an original Arroyo “guys and dolls”?

For these reasons, with this heterogeneous assembly of colleagues, friends, and executives from various political parties and loyalties, and with President Arroyo being a non-candidate, an exodus of sorts can be expected; it is time to go back to original allegiances whether it be Lakas, NP, NPC, LP and others which should not be construed as disloyalty to PGMA.

There is, for example, no contradiction between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo wanting to finish his job at the DFA until PGMA gracefully exits in 2010 while announcing his personal preference for Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino for President.

Others will follow either in search of greener pastures, or retirement, or back to the private sector.

This is understandable since PGMA can neither assure them, after 2010, with security nor job opportunity.

When all is said and done, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been successful in bonding and maximizing the employment of these talents from diverse loyalties in the last nine years.

In the same manner that “Yugoslavia” and the “Soviet Union” continued to exist only as long as Marshal Broz Tito was alive and the Soviet leaders ruled the diverse republics with an iron hand.

However, when the time came for the vassal republics and provinces to declare their independence, it was inexorable and inevitable that the Soviet empire and Yugoslavia would also cease to exist as unitary and monolithic states.

Life must move on.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)