MESSAGE SENDING FAILED

Malacanang’s communication team finally realized that they need to do more to improve the way they do their jobs. Mukhang mahina talaga ang dating ng signal sa Palasyo at ngayon lang na-realize ang katotohanang ito.  But to be fair, this admission is a lot better than continuing to pretend that they are actually doing great, deserving the daily “stars” that good pre-schoolers get.

The Communications group said they will meet on Thursday (Dec 1) to discuss ways to tighten the way they communicate with the public. Let me offer some unsolicited advice.

The structure that they have right now is not all bad. You have stewards for each concern/function.  The Arroyo administration also used this approach by having spokespersons for each concerns (political, economic, PGMAs election lawyer, even an FGMA spokesperson).

This administration chose to do it by function (messaging, delivery and operations.) The set-up, in both administrations – and as originally meant – has allowed media to identify whom to approach on issues.

The distinction between the PGMA and Pnoy communications groups lie in the amount of power vested in the unit heads. PGMA’s spokespersons are mere deputies, answerable to a secretary (the late Cerge Remonde.)  

Pnoy’s spokespersons are secretaries in rank, operating individually, with turf and foot soldiers at their beck and call. They were always available for studio guestings and phone patch interviews until media began pricking away at Pnoy’s aura. Now commentators refer to  them as Secretary “Ringing”  (Ricky) Carandang and “Saan na si?” (Sonny) Coloma, the reason of course of is self-explanatory.

Further compounding the set-up is the presence of another secretary, Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. During the campaigns, Lacierda is Pnoy’s campaign spokesperson. Even the LP stalwarts were prudent enough to let him do his job. Butch Abad and Erin Tanada speak for Noynoy only when the party is involved.

So my advice really is for Malacanang to simplify the set-up: appoint a Press Secretary and place the messaging and delivery secretaries as his deputies.  I won’t go into naming the best person for the job. I can only suggest that Pnoy should widen his choices to include people outside of the groups he feel he is indebted to.

One more thing: the Comgroup told media that it wants “a little bit more flair” in the way they communicate for the President. I surely hope that this doesn’t mean more “news” on Pnoy’s love life.

WHEN EO BEGINS TO SOUND LIKE EEEW

President Aquino has just issued two executive orders that send mixed signals to the bureaucracy and the people.

The first is the order for the return of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s control under the Office of the President.  At the surface, there is nothing scandalous in the EO because the PCSO is originally with the OP. But to political duderos like me, the questions are: Why it was taken out of OP in the first place? Why was it transferred to line agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development and then to the Department of Health?  What are the timelines of these transfers? Were these transfers done near elections when “welfare money” and “health cards” need to reach vote-rich communities? 

Skeptics of course will ask: Is it being transferred now because the President wants a steady flow of money for his own dole-out program? Political extremists will add: If the fund had been misused by the past administration, what is the guarantee that it will not be dirtied again?

The second order is that giving Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa the power to approve releases of any interests or penalties of the Social Security System (SSS) not exceeding P200, 000. The process previously needs the approval of the President.

Skeptics will ask: Why is the OP – and now ES Ochoa – being burdened with a ministerial task that SSS officials can do by their own?  Political extremists will add: Is this a way of pinpointing the ES as the one who erring companies can approach if they want their problems solved?

In both instances, the OP has assumed tasks that line agencies can perform. Can he not trust his people to do what’s right and just?

This administration’s short history is already replete with the issuance of orders and circulars that are apparently issued in haste, and have to be taken back for glaring errors, and released again after serious tweaking and fine-tuning. This is what happened in memorandum circular 1 and now the EO for the rebel soldiers’ amnesty.

In every instance, it is the President who suffers. He tries very hard to justify the errors of his team and he ends up looking like he is micromanaging the entire government. The President’s men should get their acts together. Nag–VMV na ba kayo?

ENTENG FOR YOU

Usec. Enteng Romano of the DOT has resigned, the only one so far in the long list of Aquino men who are now collectively known and referred to by some commentators and columnists as Sablay (Samar and Balay).

A number of opinion leaders laud Romano’s decision. I am prepared to accord him that respect but not up to the point that we should “romanticize” what he did as something “honorable”. What Enteng did was just right. It is the only appropriate action a public servant must take after compromising the interest of the nation. He resigned because he failed Pnoy, and us. Here’s a rare case of a subordinate willing to do enteng for his boss: (that’s Pnoy, not us.)

This display of decency is what is lacking in government. Enteng’s errors are minor compared to major operational disasters, rubberized executive orders and mistweets. Hopefully, may mahiya. Pero pustahan o, wala nang susunod sa yapak ni Enteng?

 Anyway, Romano’s resignation may have temporarily diffused the situation. But Pnoy can’t sweep this again under the rug (with Romano being the rug.) Questions must still be answered.  P5 million is P5million. Drama-drama ninyong nagtitipid kayo sa New York di ba?

Well, that’s the problem with people elevating themselves to the moral high ground. Kitang kita lahat ng ginagawa mo at madali kang batuhin. Choice nyo na. Ang tanong: Kaya pa ba?

PILIPINAS KAY GANDA: DAANG MATUWID

    Like a hot New York hotdog, President Aquino has dropped the Pilipinas Kay Ganda tourism campaign. This is Employee Number One responding to his bosses' order for him and his subordinates (or groupies) to come up with a better tourism slogan. (And in case of a collective intellectual atrophy, keep WOW Philippines!)
  President Aquino is doing it again: solving the problem of a beleaguered underling, coming to the rescue of his juveniles who traipsed over political landmines. This is his systematic way of sweeping issues under the rug while he blinds the nation with his phospororescent Cory aura. Mr. President, May I have the honor to burst the bubble: it's no longer working.
  The administration has even tried to downplay the whole event, insinuating that no public money has been spent on the campaign, with the brains behind it doing the service pro-bono.
  But a blog by journalist Ellen Tordesillas (link provided below) showed that at least P3 million had been allotted for it during the launch. P3 million is not loose change. It could have bought President Aquino decent dinner in New York. And it could buy hundreds of poor families three meals.
  As correctly pointed out by journalist Ira Panganiban in his Facebook post: Is this the "Matuwid na Daan" he had promised?
 Ano ba ang itsura ng daang matuwid sa mga lasing sa kapangyarihan?


http://www.ellentordesillas.com/p=13990&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EllenTordesillas+%28Ellen+Tordesillas%29

PH CARES! (or something must be better than PILIPINAS KAY GANDA)

   There's a new source of amusement in the Philippines: create a tourism slogan for the country. Actually, the real challenge is to create a better slogan than what the Department of Tourism came up with: Pilipinas Kay Ganda.  Since everybody, except the current administration, is convinced that the slogan sounds inferior to entries in an elementary level slogan making contest, everybody wants to participate.
  One suggestion is Ayos Pilipinas! Sounds good, except the word Ayos has gained a negative connotation due to widespread corruption in government. Ayos means "to fix" and to fix is to give money to private individuals and government employees as facilitation fee for any kind of request.
   Another suggestion is Knockout Philippines. Good thinking in using People's Champ Manny Pacquiao as unofficial mascot of the industry. But fengshui experts opine that it sounds negative as in the Philippines had been knocked out by an enemy. (Pnoy will of course readily attribute this to the travel advisories of the world's richest and powerful nations.)
   My suggestion is PH Cares, Ph being the newly acquired alternick of the country in the world stage. (Used to be PI for Philippine Islands.) A catchy slogan will be PI mo. PI ninyong lahat!!!
   You see, this is what happens when you insult people with a slogan that is not well thought and not researched; a logo that is a mongrel of copied designs and a website with ideas and lines copied and pasted from other internet sites. Hey, nothing's wrong with Wow Philippines, why Polish it! (pun of course is intended.)
   I wouldn't be surprised if one day, out of desperation (and in an attempt to produce something simply yet catchy as WOW Philippines), the Aquino tourism people with launch Exciting Extraordinarily Entertaining Wonders of Philippines or EEEW Philippines.
  Yuck!

Blunderful World

      I should have done this a long time ago: chronicle the series of blunders committed by the Aquino administration. I'm not a supporter of the President. I never campaigned for him and in small gatherings I in fact, may have campaigned against him.
     But when he came to power with an overwhelming mandate from the electorate, I was one of those who said "okay let's give him a chance."  And then it began, the series of bungles that make the Keystone Cops look honorable, forcing one senator to compare the administration to a college student council (this should have offended youth leaders).
     I will try to retrace these errors, if only to prove that I'm not making all these up. I encourage all of you to supply me with information I may have missed.
     This administration promised us change. I'm still waiting for any clue that they are doing something along that line.