"The Humor, Humility, Honesty Needed in the Little President"
On the Confirmation of the Appointment of Executive
Secretary Salvador "Bingbong" Medialdea
Senate Minority Leader Ralph G. Recto

Mr. President, fellow members of the Commission.

I have always maintained the view that the President's choice of Executive Secretary is a "privilege appointment," of which we can only extend the courtesy of confirming.

But there are other reasons I am voting for the confirmation of the appointment of the person who stands before us today.

Clearly, he exceeds all qualifications for the post, and most important, with three Executive Secretaries in the hall today completely agreeing that the nominee is fit for the job, then who am I to even doubt the opinion of these legal heavyweights.

If for anything else, these gentlemen confirm the legend that executive secretaries are made from the same mold-of having a big heart and a good head so that competence will go with compassion.

Mr. President:

With two former ES citing the nominee's professional history in stamping their seal of approval on the person who now occupies the post they once held, let me dwell on other traits which make him more than ready for a job only the best and the brightest had taken.

For HR practitioners, intelligence is not the sole determinant in choosing talent. Other attributes are important as well.

There is the fortitude to withstand pressure, the ethics to resist temptation, the skill to lead people, and the discipline to deliver, in full and on time, what has been promised.

These traits must be found in someone who will discharge duties of an ES, plus there are more which are not even in the fine print of the job description of what has been called the Little President.

And these are: to do heavy but unheralded labor; to endlessly chase papers but never publicity; to run a tight ship, including whipping the egos of alter egos into line.

Thankfully, the nominee has these, and more. He also has down-to-earth humility and disarming humor.

The President is said to lap up the jokes he cracks, and when meetings get tense, his are the stories that break the ice.

Many of them, I have told, are self-deprecating in nature, and that to me is good, for one characteristic of a person so secure about himself is the ability to laugh at his own foibles and joke about his own mistakes.

While others would try to leverage the power they have, he uses humor to lighten it. When President Duterte designated him the government caretaker for the second time when he left for Vietnam, he reported to the President upon the latter's return that his "second term as 'acting president'" was a roaring success.

The nominee, Mr. President, is not only great at law, but also with music. He has concert-level piano skills. He plays the piano the way he recites the law - without notes. If he did not earn a living as member of the Bar, I am sure that he would have earned more by playing in piano bars.

In fact, while others named to a Palace post would bring a chorus of assistants to help them, he only brought one piece of equipment with him to aid him in his work - his piano, which I suppose is his de-stressing machine.

So this guy does not only help the President run the country, he also provides him musical accompaniment. During the day, the President would probably bark at him: "Medialdea, do this, ASAP, expletives deleted."

And this conductor of the Palace symphony of lawyers, analysts and experts would quietly go to work.

But at night, after a long, hard day, he would plead to him: "Play it again, Sal."

But don't let this charming exterior mislead you, for inside this veneer of humility is a Red Lion ready to pounce on those who wish to do the country harm.

If you think you can sneak in a poorly-crafted document under his nose, don't, for he is also strict in carrying his other duty as the national paper shredder.

Mr. President, my dear colleagues:

I had the pleasure of meeting BingBong Medialdea about 35 years and 35 pounds ago. My impressions then as now are the same. He's got what it takes to do the job.

I endorse, second, and vote for the confirmation of the appointment of Salvador Medialdea as Executive Secretary.