The ‘serve at the pleasure’ club

He is now part of the “serve at the pleasure” club, the face-saving phrase that ousted government officials trot out whenever they’re forced to leave office, or rumored to be soon sent packing.

Outgoing Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez seemed full of bluster last week, dismissing a report published in this paper that former congressman and defeated senatorial candidate Ruffy Biazon would be replacing him. “So many names have been floated,” he told radio interviewers, “but I’m still here.” Monday, though, Alvarez seemed properly contrite, admitting that since President Aquino himself had announced that he was being replaced, then he had no choice but to bow out, though without dropping a last bombshell about thousands more “missing” container vans, which he blamed on the previous administration.

And then followed that hoary phrase: “I serve at the pleasure,” meaning, Cabinet members are always ready to walk away the minute the president, who appointed them, loses his trust in them.

Much fuss was made of how sudden the announcement was, such that Alvarez had to be informed by the media about his ouster before he was formally told about his dismissal from Customs. But if indeed one “serves at the pleasure,” then one should be ready to give up one’s post any time and not harbor ill feelings about breached protocol.

To be fair, Alvarez came under fire almost since the day his name was announced for Customs. It began with reports of how he cheated at a golf tournament, and went on to his travails on the job. Alvarez and his sponsor, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, blamed the bad press on vested interests whose profitable smuggling operations were being nipped by Alvarez’s efforts. But as even P-Noy conceded, it wasn’t so much the bad rep as the under-performance of the Bureau of Customs that did in Alvarez.

So far, Malacañang has yet to formally confirm if indeed Biazon will succeed Alvarez. But Biazon should have learned plenty from Alvarez’s brief stay at Customs. And one of these lessons is that it isn’t all “pa-pogi” that matters, but rather performance. One may be besieged on all sides by detractors, but if one is meeting one’s targets, then you will indeed “serve at the pleasure” of your boss.

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This Saturday, Sen. Pia Cayetano, a triathlete who brings her advocacy for fitness and the welfare of athletes to her work on the Senate floor, joins triathletes of all ages and from diverse backgrounds at the Alabang Country Club in Muntinlupa.

The runners, swimmers and bikers will not be competing against each other but rather will get together to raise funds and donations to help “differently-abled” children. The event is the ninth Gabriel’s Symphony Foundation’s (GSF) “12-Hour Multi-Sport Celebration in Memory of Gabriel,” held in September each year to mark the birthday of Cayetano’s son Gabriel, who died in 2001 from complications of a rare congenital condition at just nine months old.

As the senator puts it: “This is the annual celebration that I and my friends in the triathlon community hold to mark the first birthday which my son never had. What started as a gathering of friends and family has become a full-blown multi-sport celebration that benefits differently-abled children from all over the country. Gabriel continues to live on in our memories by touching the lives of other children.”

The event raises funds to finance free surgeries for young children born with cleft lip and palate (known locally as “bingot”), provide free hearing aids to children with hearing disabilities, and give out artificial eyes to visually-impaired children.

The GSF also helps the Philippine General Hospital’s (PGH) Pediatric Nuerosurgical and Craniofacial Operating Unit, a specialized unit which performs delicate surgical operations on children born with various types of cranial and spinal malformations.

Other beneficiaries include the “Barefoot Running Kids” of Daang-Hari, a group of promising young athletes from poor communities along Daang Hari Road (a popular training area for bikers which traverses Southern Metro Manila), as well as the Marillac Home for Girls in Muntinlupa City.

Among the activities lined up in this year’s edition are individual and group events, including a swim-a-thon, bike-a-thon, run-a-thon, and triathlon, as well as the Super Tri Kids triathlon. It will also feature mile run “fun” races, including the “Buddy Run” and “Walk Your Dog” contest.

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The controversial Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte will lead the opening ceremonies of “Silver Linings,” an educational forum and homecoming for breast cancer survivors and the people who care about them.

Staged every three years by the ICanServe Foundation, this year’s edition of “Silver Linings” will take place on Sept. 17 at the Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City.

Dawn Zulueta, a supporter of ICanServe’s “Ating Dibdibin” barangay-based breast cancer screening program, joins Mayor Duterte in leading the opening rites.

“Silver Linings” is the only national forum on breast cancer that empowers cancer survivors, their family and friends, the medical community and the general public with information on breast cancer, while providing and sustaining a “circle of support” for women engaged in this battle.

ICanServe celebrity volunteers will moderate and speak at the breakout sessions. Karen Davila, Maritoni Fernandez, Bibeth Orteza, Melissa De Leon, Patty Betita, and Twink Macaraig, Chiqui Roa and Jim Paredes have confirmed their participation. Musical numbers bring the event to a crescendo with Bituin Escalante, Chad Borja and the Sinagtala Dance Company.