The coming administrations of new LGU tenants will surely be teeming with all kinds of characters, the kind euphemistically called as consultants, advisers, name them, they have an appropriate name for them. But are they no better than political rasputins? We hope not and God forbid! We are tempted to make a storyline on this subject in the wake of the coming assumption to office by tomorrow, July 1, the start of the new term of office of newly-elected/reelected public servants. For sure, the mood is euphoric all over. There’s an air of jubilation as the victors sample the nectar of victory. And too all over the place and definitely known to the celebrators are the orphans of defeat, sulking in the corner like wet chickens. Indeed, it’s happy days are here again because to the victors belong the spoils of war. Why can’t they be magnanimous in victory? To this BGlante, it’s no way because as they say, the harder the fight, the sweeter the victory. So, let them eat, drink, be merry and rejoice because tomorrow is another day. Because tomorrow is serious work. As they buckle down to work, the new overlords in cahoots with the new set of advisers and consultants will behave as if they are all candidates for sainthood. For sure, they will swear before the graves of their ancestors that they are free from political sins all throughout the terms of their principal. Our apprehension is that in due time they will be tempted into accepting bribes and kickbacks in transactions that will surely take place as soon as they start warming their seats let alone if nobody is looking at what they are up to as they discharge their civil duties. If so, the vicious cycle of getting rid of the corrupt, comes in full circle with the new set of thieves lording it over as if they are just staking their claim of what they believe to rightfully belong to them although by all indications it is morally wrong.

The presence of political Rasputins is also a possibility.

In the guise of advising the chief executive of what is supposed to be done for the good of the city or town, the Rasputin is an important fixture of the bureaucracy. Comes the hard part if the Rasputin and new set of thieves are dominating the political landscape because they are claiming their due as mainly responsible to the victory of the newly-elected official. If this happens, pray tell if the incoming administration is no better than the previous one it vowed to replace in the name of change. What we are afraid of is the dominance of bootlickers, opportunists ,sycophants and their ilk . We remember with vivid clarity during the time of Richard Daley, one time mayor of Chicago. When the time for the good mayor to make his tearful goodbye after serving his term, there was an air of gloom in the mayor’s office thinking that the good old days of the cordon sanitaire of the city mayor had sadly came to an end. You know what a member of the so-called loyal circle of friends of the outgoing mayor blurted at the prospect that they would be losing their job as a result of the mayor’s exit: From out of nowhere, this chap blurted without batting an eyelash : “you know mayor, you are the kind of person who come and go, we are the kind that stay. Opportunist indeed! Or in the parlance of geo-politics, he’s the kind who knows how to push the right button, no matter who is in the executive saddle; he is there to claim his due since nobody touch him with a ten-foot pole because he is the kind, come hell or high water, known as a permanent player.