Insulating the president’s remarks

President Duterte has been known to make “off-the-cuff” remarks, with his spokesmen more often than not having to explain that the way the words came out does not necessarily reflect what he really meant. One recent occasion was during his visit to a military camp in Cebu that was aired live on television where he made sensitive remarks about US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

As expected, the US State Department has asked for a clarification regarding the “inappropriate” remarks against their senior American diplomat who, by the way, also happens to be the official representative of US President Barack Obama in the Philippines. We have to remember that in the same token that if the president of the United States made some derogatory remarks about our Philippine ambassador to Washington — we would very likely also demand for an explanation. By the way, in the diplomatic world, any public comment made by a head of state is considered national policy.

The fact is, we were told the president has been holding some resentment against the United States for over a decade, ever since an American suspected of causing the explosion in a hotel in Davao City mysteriously disappeared from his hospital room, supposedly spirited away by the CIA. This angered then-mayor Duterte who blamed the US and accused it of violating Philippine sovereignty — and this hostility has been carried over to the outgoing US Ambassador whose comments regarding the female Australian missionary further stoked the resentment of Duterte. This, by the way, was explained to us by a close ally of the president.

We have no doubt President Duterte was playing up to the soldiers when he said what he said. As expected, the president’s communications team tried to do some damage control by presenting an edited version of his speech – which actually became even more damaging.

Presidential “off the cuff” comments are really nothing new. I remember stories told by my grandfather Miguel Romualdez, who was appointed mayor of Manila by governor-general Leonard Wood. The story goes that President Manuel L. Quezon routinely cursed the American governor-general, whom he despised. Back then, Quezon’s remarks were insulated by his media handlers. The Americans never knew President Quezon regularly berated Leonard Wood.

Although it is more difficult to do that nowadays because of social media, it is still incumbent upon the people around the president, specifically the communications team, to insulate such remarks. Anything the president says is multiplied a hundred million times and is often deemed public policy.

My unsolicited advice to the communications team: Whenever the president speaks to a group of people, it does not always have to be aired live on national television so that even if private individuals upload a video, it does not come out as an official issuance from the government. Foreign Secretary Jun Yasay and the rest of the Cabinet, including internationally respected Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez and even FVR, can play a major role in trying to insulate the comments of the president especially when it comes to international relations.

All patriotic Filipinos love this country, and even those who were not part of the 16 million who voted President Duterte into office, want him to succeed for the sake of this nation. It’s a realization that in this global world, everyone will agree the Philippines has to maintain good relations with the community of nations, especially with our closest allies including the United States.

Senators impressed with Tugade

At yesterday’s Senate hearing on the proposed emergency powers for President Duterte, everyone including the senators were very impressed with Transportation Secretary Art Tugade who, in the words of Senator Ralph Recto, gave a very good overview presentation of the Department of Transportation’s roadmap.

Tugade’s no-nonsense, straightforward explanations were appreciated by viewers who now have high hopes of seeing “the light at the end of the road.” Among the well-received plans is the issuance of five-year driver’s licenses and manufacturing of license plates in-country instead of abroad.

When we spoke with Secretary Tugade last week, he said he is sending someone to Denmark to look at the machine for manufacturing car plates so government could do the production work. He also presented the DOT’s long-term plan and the status of the 30-day and 100-day action plans to see if they are on track.

The DOT’s goal, and rightly so, is to make public transport become the primary choice of all Filipinos — even vehicle owners — as their means of travel. This can be done with a high quality, comfortable mass transportation system via rail, bus rapid transit system including low-emission, modernized public utility vehicles, to name a few.

Lest he be accused of “oversimplification,” Tugade cautioned that the problems faced by the DOT, especially the issue of traffic, is not something that can be easily resolved even with the emergency powers Tugade promised that people would “feel and see the difference within those two years.” Judging from the reactions and comments by the senators, they see Art Tugade as a man who is as good as his word.

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