Repackaging Erap - Sketches

In reel life, you have cosmetics, wigs, fake facial hair and costumes to change a movie actor's persona. Change comes much harder in real life. Old habits are hard to break, old friends and lovers hard to jettison.

President Erap probably didn't think "the greatest performance" of his life would ever require him to change. After all, voters were familiar with his vices and knew his relatives and friends (plus his wives' relatives and friends) when they gave him an overwhelming mandate to lead the country for six years. His nocturnal habits and fondness for carousing till dawn were public knowledge. Some of his watering holes gained notoriety even before he became President.

So why should he change now? Because what's good enough for an election is often not good enough for effective governance.

Joseph Estrada is no longer a movie idol who can do no wrong. When a president errs or makes a fool of himself, it can affect millions of people. He has seen what happens when he puts friendship above national interest, as in the case of Dante Tan: skittish investors flee.

Running a country requires dynamic leadership -- an openness to reform.

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Even the President must realize by now that there are many people who don't want to let Erap be Erap, as suggested recently by Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora. The President is used to being adored by fans. But the greatest performance of his life is bombing at the box office. The audience is booing; some are walking out. Time to change the script.

You've seen some changes -- or heard pronouncements of change -- in recent days. The unsettling slur is gone. He has reportedly dropped Xenical but is still on a diet. Contrary to perceptions of his habits, the President does get up early. You can often hear him live on early-morning radio, announcing his government's achievements, lambasting his critics and insulting his enemies.

Rejected by the middle and upper classes, who keep pounding him in the surveys, President Erap has gone back to his constituency, immersing himself in the slums and rural areas. Pressing flesh, kissing babies. Now why is he acting like a candidate? Maybe his party mates have told him that if he doesn't shape up, the administration could get trounced in the mid-term elections next year. And he doesn't want the opposition to control Congress, does he?

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New Presidential Spokesman and Press Secretary Dong Puno, upon his swearing in, reportedly said he planned to spruce up the image of his boss. After numerous gaffes in his first two years, President Erap, notorious for his bullheadedness, may now be open to advice and allow himself to be repackaged.

The President says he wants to make himself scarce to the media. For a President like him, this is a good idea -- his mouth has often gotten him in big trouble. He's tried this before, though, but has never sustained it. It's reflex: when you're asked a question, you answer. So he can't avoid "ambush" interviews. When he's fuming and wants to unburden himself, he summons reporters. How long can he keep himself scarce to the press?

When it comes to his personal life, will he accept advice from his aides? If an aide tells him it's not a good idea to go around introducing his daughter Jerica at this time, will he tell the aide to go to Canada? Or get elected president first?

It will be nearly impossible to repackage Joseph Estrada, because he has reached his position just by being himself. He'll go on a diet, change a Cabinet member or two, kick out his peso-a-year advisers, but don't expect much change in the President's governance or personal style.

We'll drift along till 2004. Those who can't live with that can take a hike to Canada.

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ONLY IN RP: Who said tricycles and pedicabs are banned from national roads? They're all over Taft and Quirino avenues in Manila, ignored by traffic aides. Nobody obeys this President.

Meanwhile, on Sucat road (where there are also tricycles), Maynilad Water promised (in a press statement, even) to finish its project and restore the pavement by April 9. The gaping pits are still there, and traffic's still messed up. Maybe I got the year wrong. Maybe the contractor took an early Lenten vacation.