The sinking of ‘Team No Direction’

The emergency press conference hosted by three presidential and two vice presidential candidates last Easter Sunday will go down in the history of Philippine media and communications as the worst press conference ever.

In the many years I have given trainings and lectures on media, communications and crisis management, the Easter Sunday press conference must be the first ever that ended up creating a crisis instead of averting or addressing one.

Many of my students in government and the private sector will remember the rule and reason for hosting a press conference: Only when you have a major announcement or introduction or to head off a crisis that is going out of control. The Isko Moreno-led press conference last Sunday had nothing new or major in terms of news or campaign related developments. They had no one to introduce, and there was no crisis to address.

In fact, the campaign had plateaued enough, that many members of media actually flew out to Palawan, drove to Baguio City and numerous other destinations, believing nothing new would break unless someone died of a heart attack or was killed in a plane crash.

The politicians, now called “Team No Direction,” clearly violated established rules about when to host a press conference. The minute you host a press conference it involves calling in members of media to drop whatever they’re doing, wherever they are, under the presumption that any right thinking public official or personality knows enough to know that hosting a press conference is a SERIOUS matter, especially on Easter Sunday. You are also expected to announce such an event ahead of schedule, so calling an emergency press conference on Easter Sunday creates expectations and urgency, and failing to justify the call is nothing less than a Bad Joke.

So you can imagine how pissed many media practitioners were to be dragged down to Makati or forced to cut their vacation short, drive down at five in the morning from Baguio or find a way to fly back to Manila, while others had to pass on the Easter Sunday rituals of lunch with mom or Easter egg hunts with their kids! The timing was to say the least VERY INCONSIDERATE and DISRESPECTFUL of the media and the general public.

From No Merit subject matter and Bad Timing, the Team No Direction band of politicians went on to declare their “No Retreat – No Surrender” mantra for the 2022 elections. The weird thing about it is that they have individually been saying the same thing for weeks, if not months. Manny Pacquiao was the pioneer chanter of Walang Atrasan, then Ping Lacson started singing his own version beginning April and until recently, Isko Moreno did likewise.

That they had to host a press conference in order to get their message across to the media and the public reveals many things. First, the Scream Team of Isko, Ping and Gonzales is obviously not listening to their own messaging. Many people have already written them off as determined to finish the campaign for selfish, or self-serving or delusional reasons. Given that these next three weeks are when candidates will be “shaking the trees” mightily in order to get millions upon millions of campaign contributions, it is “normal” for candidates to pull every stunt they can to increase their ratings and winnability.

Yes, there is profit in campaigning and, like jukeboxes, the candidates need to perform credibly. More importantly, quitting now can be disastrous for future political runs three years from now.

So if we all know that the Team No Direction won’t quit, then why are they making a big deal of it? Analysts believe it is intended to give a show of unity or an attempt to throw blame at VP Leni Robredo to justify how Isko and Ping have been abandoned by groups and supporters led by Cong. Bebot Alvarez and Tim Orbos. As Garfield the cartoon character has often been quoted: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”

Unfortunately, the “Concert of Discord” last Easter has increased the belief among voters that Team No Direction has finally, albeit accidentally, exposed themselves as “double agents” or Trojan horses pretending to be “Opposition.” Even before the campaign started, there were groups already doubting the independence or political integrity of Moreno, Lacson and Sotto. They were collectively accused as “enablers” of Rodrigo Duterte, associated with the Marcoses, etc. All concerned denied these to high heaven but the disastrous press conference was the nail in the team’s coffin.

A proper press conference follows a script or the media briefing material. The printed guide is to be followed and agreed upon. There is supposed to be a moderator, a lead resource/expert or principal speaker based on his or her authority, competence or seniority. The remaining panelists are often technical experts whose role is to support or explain details on the issue or product.

But last Easter Sunday Team No Direction violated all these. We are told that Isko Moreno went off-script and off topic, Ping Lacson was not in agreement with the call for Leni’s withdrawal, Gonzales’ and Moreno challenging VP Leni to withdraw was not in the agreed script. Cong. Lito Atienza sent out a statement praising Manny Pacquiao for not participating in the comedy of errors performed by Team No Direction, but Pacquiao reportedly said he did not make it because he missed his flight.

Ganging up on Leni Robredo was Team No Direction’s first sin, the second was blaming the media for the disaster. Never blame the media for your acts of stupidity. If you host a press conference, you control the narrative, you choose what to address and how to address it. There is no excuse for ignorance, incompetence, lack of preparation, respect for the parties you rely on or work with. There is no excuse for bullies and liars. Be the person you want others to be.