Category Archive for: gobyerno

komentaryo

Media, gov’t comms, #LawinPH

One of the questions that dominated the discourse pre-Typhoon Lawin was: what the heck is government doing?

The truth was, we weren’t hearing much about what was being done, who was doing what, and whether government was prepared at all. It didn’t help that too many members of the President’s Cabinet –including the heads of communications – were with him in China, and so there was absolutely no sense at all that there was anyone in control of delivering information about the typhoon, one that was said to be akin to Typhoon Yolanda of 2013.

Here’s the thing: when you come from an Aquino government that had three communications offices, having no functioning communications office for President Duterte is nothing but a liability.

For the public and the government itself.  (more…)

komentaryo

Brutal: the police and the President’s public

Early this month, I had wondered about the missing apology from Duterte supporters given the uncalled for, unfair, and absolute harassment of media workers in relation to the President’s failed ironic claim to the analogy between him and Hitler. It seemed important to point out that there was a need to rein the President’s supporters in, especially when the President himself apologizes when he makes a mistake.

That is extraordinary because we came from a previous government that refused to apologize for anything at all.

It is ruined by the fact though that too many of the President’s followers seem to think they can make no mistakes, and that always going in for the kill — looking at biases, dismissing criticism, questioning allegiances — helps the president and this government at all. Often it only reveals that too many of them who scream at the top of their lungs, behaving badly, thinking they’re defending the President, actually end up becoming his liability, too.

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komentaryo

OVP versus NAPC: poverty, aid, vision

It was interesting, to say the least, to hear about the Office of the Vice President (OVP) holding what they were calling The Partnerships Against Poverty Summit today, October 10. I wondered why it was that after 100 days, Vice President Leni Robredo has gotten away with pretty much doing nothing as Housing Chief — promising only that the roadmap would be complete by the first quarter of 2017 — complete with the assertion that “100 days is too short to hit targets,” yet here she was doing something else.

This summit is part of what they are calling the OVP’s Anti-Poverty and Advocacy Program, the goals of which are yet unclear, but which, if today’s poverty summit is any indication, is not only highly problematic, it is also absolutely redundant with the existing government Departments of Health and Social Welfare and Development, and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC). Most disturbing of all: it goes against and is not at all a complementary project to existing government projects — which is what the VP herself said about it in a press con on October 5. (more…)

komentaryo

Rein Them In

I used to love being able to say that President Duterte’s followers, at least the ones that I deal with on social media, have been better than Liberal Party loyalists. Those from the latter group who I’ve had the good fortune of engaging with tend to be rabid and angry, and absolutely defensive to the point of blindness. They think when you say “Daang Matuwid peeps” you mean them all, even when you’re obviously pertaining specifically to those who served with the previous government. They take offense at anything you say at all against VP Leni Robredo even when, truth to tell, you have yet to see her doing anything substantial.

A friend told me once: the yellow supporters getting angry and trolling you, that’s a badge of honor.

I don’t know about that, but it sure felt like an achievement surviving President Duterte devotees. (more…)

komentaryo

#EveryONE: A call to protect human rights and uphold democratic principles

Imagined speech against Sen. Leila M. de Lima hypothetically delivered by VP Jojo Binay in a place and time in the past when it was the de Lima who was in power.

Sa panahon kung kelan lantaran akong pinagtutulungan at tila ba kinukuyog ng mga lalaki at babaeng kapwa ko nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno, kanino pa nga ba ako kukuha ng lakas kundi sa mga kapwa ko tao? I am still here. Huwag po kayong mag-alala. Siguro yung iba nagtataka: Bakit nandiyan pa siya? Bakit nakatayo pa siya? Bakit buhay pa siya? Nandito pa po ako, at habang nakatayo ako, lalaban po ako.

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