ALITTLE later today (Thursday), Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will be sworn in as President of the Republic of the Philippines, an event that will be a joyous one for many people, and viewed as an impending calamity by some.

Well, you know what they say about opinions.

As far as my own opinion is concerned, the moment of the inauguration will also be the moment at which I no longer have one, because it is no longer necessary. Mr. Marcos has officially clocked in, so there is no longer any need to speculate on what might happen or how his particular character might affect his performance; we can observe and make judgments about it in real time. Having attained his office through proper means, and perhaps more to the point, by way of achieving a rare true majority of votes in a multi-candidate field, he’s earned a blank canvas, and we can now see what he does with it.

For what it’s worth, I hope he does well. After all, a country that is effectively overcoming challenges and prospering is a lot more pleasant place to call home than one where everything seems to be coming apart at the seams. And despite whatever impressions others may have, the President and first lady are actually very nice people, on a personal level. I met him several years ago when he was still a senator, and met Mrs. Marcos the other night when she made an unexpected and notably unpretentious appearance at the birthday party for our founder.

Not that I’m going to belabor the point because I learned the hard way many years ago that personality should not be part of professional decisions or judgment. One of my embarrassing missteps as a manager was promoting a staff worker who was one of the friendliest and most well-liked people in the whole operation to a supervisory position, only to see him promptly make a complete mess of the job. His replacement was a guy who I am convinced to this day was an actual sociopath, and he turned out to be one of the most innovative and efficient managers I ever had in my department. So, even though it’s natural to want the nice guys to succeed, you have to keep a grip on those kinds of sentiments.

Clean slate notwithstanding, in order to fairly assess what now-President Marcos accomplishes (or not), there has to be some benchmarks, and unfortunately for him, he is being handed an overall situation that is markedly less stable and promising than it was when his predecessor was in the same spot six years ago. Why that is so is something that can be discussed at leisure; what should be done about it, especially in the short term, is more relevant right now.

While these are certainly open to debate, the three biggest issues facing the Philippines at the moment, the things that I believe should be at the top of the President’s to-do list are, in order: addressing the growing cost-ofliving crisis caused by rapidly increasing inflation; comprehensively remodeling the Philippines’ energy sector, since that is the biggest single factor that contributes to the deteriorating standard of living; and resolving the transportation crisis that has beset Metro Manila, because of the outsized impact the productivity of the capital has on the larger economy.

There are obviously many other priorities on the President’s agenda, and certainly easier ones, but in my view he should resist the traditional temptation to swing at the low-hanging fruit. As recent history — i.e., the terms of the three previous presidents that I’ve been around to observe firsthand — has demonstrated, the complexity of the government machine is such that picking the low-hanging fruit often ends up being the extent of the executive’s accom

plishments, at least for a considerable part of the six-year term.

It is the governance equivalent of installing new tires on a car with a blown transmission; yes, it’s an improvement, but not one that solves the most immediate problem. Focusing on the three big issues described above will at least get the proverbial car rolling again, and buy the government the time to pursue other initiatives. It also will help to assuage a great deal of the skepticism with which Marcos’ election has been met by investors and external partners who, despite offering the usual polite congratulations and best wishes, have been keeping their wallets in their pockets until they see a clear sign that he has his job well in hand.

That the President and his team will address the most serious issues first is the great expectation; the modest one is that, unlike his immediate predecessor, he will give us something of actual substance to discuss and debate. Practicing normal human manners and making a visible effort to behave with an awareness of the dignity of the office of the president should be the default setting for the one holding that office, and it will be nice to not be distracted from real, practical issues by someone’s Homey the Clown impersonation.

So with that, welcome abroad, Mr. President. Don’t forget your name tag, and please don’t put fish in the break room microwave.