Convenient to blame the columnists

Because studies show Filipinos don’t read that much, I honestly never thought columnists are that powerful. And even if we assume they are, the good and credible ones are reasonable. But that’s the problem with a CommGroup composed of people who didn’t have a day’s experience in public relations practice. They don’t know the basics.

So Edwin Lacierda is picking a fight with the columnists by blaming them for P-Noy’s declining ratings. A true PR professional would know that if he is not getting his message across, there is a good reason for the static. Most cases, it is because they are not doing enough to reach out and communicate.

The worse thing for a communicator to do is look for excuses rather than look unto himself. The next worse thing is to nitpick. That’s exactly what Edwin did. When I wrote that stopping take-offs and landings every time the President leaves delays everyone by an hour, I based it on info from former NAIA officials and airline folks. Airlines complain to me they get blamed for delays not of their making.

It is not true, I am told, that the inconvenience to airlines is just 10 to 15 minutes. Even a former NAIA official conceded to me that in his experience, flights are disrupted a maximum of 45 minutes to an hour for Presidential flights. There are also normally other planes in the president’s party that add to the pressure.

There is already congestion in a normal day with long queues for take offs and landings even without a Presidential disruption. As such, it takes quite a while for flights to get back to normal if the airport is closed for just 10 minutes, assuming that’s all the time it takes to get a President airborne. And because the notice to airmen of such closure is given just a couple of hours or less before, flights already in the air from places with more than two hours flying time away end up wasting fuel circling the airport waiting for a Presidential flight to get on its way.

The only point of my comment was simply to convince the President not to add to the congestion problem at NAIA and he can do that by using other nearby airports like Sangley or Lipa and set the example for general aviation to move out of NAIA too. Edwin missed the point and decided to go on the offensive with his “fact”. But mea culpa too… the way I wrote misled Lacierda.

When I get conflicting information from government bureaucrats and private sector sources, I normally believe the private sector source.  

Ambassador Vapni

I have covered quite a number of ambassadors to our country. In my experience, Israeli Ambassador Zvi Vapni is probably the most personable envoy I have ever met, a true ambassador of goodwill for his people. I can’t imagine an ambassador with absolutely no “airs”. He is not typical of those who go around being called “Your Excellency” and “extraordinary and plenipotentiary.” Ambassador Vapni comes across as simply one who just wants to make friends.

The Ambassador surprised me when out of the blue, I got a call from him and he said he wanted to make a courtesy call on me. I was flustered. I didn’t know what to say. I am after all, no Max Soliven, the only journalist I know who receives courtesy calls of foreign envoys. I told him I will just take him out for lunch and that we did a few days after.

Some months later, he called again and asked if we could have coffee. He went all the way to Podium in Ortigas Center because I didn’t have the time to battle the traffic to go to Makati. He also called me one morning to ask me if I could teach him to play golf. I didn’t play golf so I passed him on to my close friend, Danny Gozo. I understand he painfully tried to swing that club and hit that tiny ball but it seems, like me, he couldn’t quite make it happen the way golf is played.

In between all that, he invited me to attend a number of cultural activities featuring Israeli artists. There was a play in Tagalog based on an original script in Hebrew about generational conflict in an ordinary Israeli family. There was a movie by an award winning Israeli film director, a good way for a foreign audience to empathize with the concerns of an Israeli family… including the pain of losing a son while in compulsory military service. Then there were others: the visual arts exhibits and the jazz concert featuring contemporary Israeli jazz artists. And he sent Rosan Cruz, one of the communications professionals working with me to a media training program in Israel.

Looking back at all these, I guess Ambassador Vapni enhanced the understanding between our two peoples through cultural immersion. Given my sympathies for the aspirations of the Palestinian people, I thought the Ambassador presented the Israeli perspective in a most eloquent and effective way that no hard-sell but polarized discussion could achieve. He gave me an updated view of Israel as more than the Biblical heartland from where my Christian faith has sprung.

Well, the Ambassador is leaving us soon after completing his three years tour of duty in Manila. And as his last official act, he hosted a marvelous Israeli National Day reception last Tuesday at the InterCon. It was the only National Day reception I have attended with smart casual as the recommended attire. The Ambassador himself was without a neck tie, looking more like a Silicon Valley entrepreneur than a diplomat.

Rather than just the normal cocktail party with the usual inedible hotel canapés, Ambassador Vapni laid out a veritable Israeli fiesta. Different kinds of wine from Israel vineyards were specially flown in and so was the chef who gave us a good sampling of Israeli cuisine. I think he set the bar several notches higher for National Day receptions.

What we partook last Tuesday evening was an extremely delicious variety of Mediterranean dishes… largely vegetables, fruits, fish… all deliciously prepared and all disgustingly healthy for those of us who think of lechon as the hallmark of a celebration. I was thinking that I should shift to an Israeli diet if I want to live longer.

Unfortunately, we don’t have an Israeli restaurant in Manila, or none that I know of. So I am depending on an old classmate of mine at UP MassComm, Nancy Ladringan-Harel, a now retired advertising agency entrepreneur who married an Israeli to pick up where Ambassador Vapni left off last Tuesday. Nancy promised during that evening reception that she will invite me to sample more Israeli dishes in her home soon.

That’s Ambassador Vapni… spreading the word on Israel through culture, the arts and culinary delights. That’s what people-to-people diplomacy is all about. I may still think that the present Israeli government is too ideologically hard headed and should work more with the Obama administration to achieve lasting peace in that region. But that doesn’t mean I do not understand what the ordinary Israeli people are going through too. Ambassador Vapni made sure I had a better grasp of what Israel is about in the short time he was here in Manila. That’s what being an ambassador is all about.

Who Does The Land of Israel Belong To?

Interestingly, I just got this from Robin Tong about Israeli sense of humor.

A representative from Israel to the UN began: “Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses: When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath!’

“Moses removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water. When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them!

“The Palestinian representative at the UN jumped up furiously and shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren’t there then.’”

The Israeli representative smiled and said, “And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech...”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected].  He is also on Twitter @boochanco