A problem of credibility

EDITORIAL

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05/22/2008

Gloria Arroyo has appointed her chief Palace aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as he new spokesman, following the resignation and transfer to the Monetary Board of Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

One of the reasons stated for her choice of Ermita is that he conducts weekly media briefings anyway in Malacañang.

She already has two deputy spokesmen: Anthony Golez and Lorelei Fajardo, both of whom, incidentally, spew out a lot of nonsense, just as Bunye did, for a long time running.

The problem, if Gloria still does not know it, is not a matter of changing the presidential spokesman, but an issue of presidential credibility.

Bunye has realized, or should have realized sooner, that his effectiveness as a spokesman, or lack of it, has run its course, as not only has he failed at eradicating Gloria’s credibility problem, but that he had succeeded in completely destroying his own credibility.

That he had come to grips with this problem of credibility showed when he, in the past several months, hardly spoke on issues, letting Golez and Fajardo face the media instead.

Even if Ermita does take over the chores of a presidential spokesman, it is unlikely that he will succeed at creating an air of credibility in Malacañang, and for Gloria, mainly because the credibility problem rests with Gloria.

Media-wise, all statements coming from Malacañang do see print, but they are hardly believed anyway by the public at large, which translates to a gigantic credibility problem.

This in turn means that no matter who is appointed presidential spokesman, will continue to suffer the same fate — credibility-wise — as Bunye.

Nothing that she says is believed, not even when she and her National Economic Development Authority and her statistics office come up with economic figures of high growth. Nothing she says by way of her announcements of releasing billions in agricultural funds to cope with the rice problem is credible, as even the farmers have said they have not received any funding or support from government.

So when she says there is no rice crisis, Filipinos believe the opposite to be true, and stock up on rice.

When she speaks of upholding the rule of law, this is taken as rubbish, since the Filipinos know, from experience, that she is the biggest law breaker.

When she says there are no sacred cows in her government, nobody believes her, knowing that she continues to protect them, as well as to protect her hide.

When she states that she knows nothing about these anomalous deals she hand her administration enter into, that, too, is not believed.

When she announces her various wars against corruption, red tape, a bloated bureaucracy and even poverty, such announcements are taken with a grain of salt.

And even when she, through her spokesmen, claims that she does not interfere in judicial and congressional matters, as these are independent and co-equal branches of government, this too, is not believed, as all signs point to her direct interference with both the judiciary — especially the Supreme Court — and Congress.

Making matters worse for her credibility problem are her flip-flopping policies.

Take the case of her confirmation of talks about a Cabinet revamp, making it appear that there was going to be a major revamp, only to have her spokesman say that there will be no revamp and that only the press secretaryship and the Cabinet secretary post are included in the Cabinet change — with Bunye adding that the revamp Gloria spoke of was merely in this minor context.

It really won’t change anything even if a new spokesman is appointed. Golez and Fajardo are relative newcomers to the job, and already, they suffer from credibility problems. Ermita is not that great either in the credibility department, and he is not likely to succeed in getting Gloria, or himself, to appear credible.

Not even the best image makers can bring about an attitudinal change in the public toward Gloria.

The surveys, showing only an eight percent public satisfaction rating for her performance rating tell it all.

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