Instead of having his cake and eating it too, President Bongbong Marcos ended up having to clean the national mess called the 2025 General Appropriations Act. Now he has also ended up defending related matters. That is not the President’s job. Congress made the mess, let Congress fix the problem, let them do the talking. At most, let the Presidential Communications Office deal with it.
PBBM recently reacted to statements made by former president Rodrigo Duterte and Davao Congressman Isidro Ungab that the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget had “discrepancies” where funding for certain agencies was left blank.
The claims solicited an immediate response from PBBM, who said Duterte was lying about missing amounts in the budget. While I understand the President’s need to address what Malacañang called fake news immediately, the President should have been spared from having to defend a bicameral committee report of Congress.
As a result, PBBM has been dragged into another exchange or what they call an acoustic war that simply makes political relationships worse than ever. The bicameral conference committee report is the handiwork of both Congress and the Senate and therefore any challenge or serious accusation against it should be addressed by them. The claims that there were “blanks” should have been addressed by the concerned agency or whoever directly submitted the proposed budget to Congress.
This most recent event somehow lends credence to claims that certain people around PBBM are misleading the President or giving him false information about who are for or against him. As a result, commentaries are almost surely classified as criticism or anti-Bongbong Marcos, when they could be anti-something or anti-someone else.
Instead of President Bongbong Marcos stepping into the arena and getting into a fight, it should have been Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Chiz Escudero who should have reacted to ex-pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s statements. Ever since there was a public uproar against the 2025 GAA or budget, all eyes have been on PBBM while the Speaker and the Senate President conveniently stood on the sidelines, avoiding the PR fallout.
I recently observed that the President and the Executive Secretary have been doing a lot of the media engagements and the stamp of authority gives credence to what is being said. But like I said, not everything is your responsibility. For instance, a politician recently asked me who might be a good “comms person” for the President? I asked why? And the politician said, “I find them weak.”
Many comms executives, both in public and private, are victims of this “weak” impression because they are often restrained by their boss, their boss does not know how to enable and utilize them, or they treat communications as an afterthought or an expense instead of as an investment.
Just like PBBM, presidents and CEOs often wade into the waters of confrontation or run away and hide behind black-out curtains. If there is intentionality in selecting the Executive Secretary, the same must be done with a communications secretary or VP for comms. But, more importantly, the president or CEO must know what he or she wants in terms of communications.
The reality inside Malacañang is that the “team” is often a mixture of people hired or appointed from the past and the present through recommendations of relatives, friends and some professionals. They may work for the President, but their loyalty is not necessarily just for the president.
Unfortunately, “propaganda,” “explanations,” alignment or centralization of output is the main but ineffective menu. Every department and agency often finds itself having to clear or get permission from the comms department or the usec or asec in charge of comms of a department, all of which delays or defeats the purpose of having the comms team.
Revisiting the many spokespersons of the past, their common lament is that they were not given the same level of engagement, consulted or even trusted in all matters. While the spokesperson almost always ends up burning his or her reputation and career for the job, they also end up being burned at the stake for not knowing or being aware of a controversial or complicated matter involving the presidency.
Forgive the analogy, but you will never know what kind of a guard dog you have if you keep it caged or tied up. I have a friendly one that will mercilessly attack other dogs, I have one that only likes to play and I have another that needs to be locked up when guests are around because she is very protective and territorial.
The Bible teaches us: “The battle is not yours but the Lord’s.” Every leader must choose his battles.
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Last Friday, I had the chance to reconnect with some colleagues from the business and automotive beats as I attended a car event (something I rarely do these days). It was the launch of the latest versions of the Audi Q7 and Q8, both full-size premium SUVs complementing Audi’s fully electric models sold in the country. The event served as a kick-off celebration for Audi’s 20th year in the Philippines under PGA Cars.
As Audi Philippines head Benedicto Coyiuto shared, the launch of the new Audi Q7 and Q8 is the start of the company’s “bold product offensive” on its milestone year, and shows its “commitment to provide consumers” with a diverse selection of models. So, we could expect more new cars to come from the German brand in the months ahead.
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