President Arroyo and perceived image problem

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

Does President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have an image problem? It's obvious she thinks so. Look at how fast she has been shuffling the people whose principal responsibility is to polish the image of her administration and of course her own.

In the first 15 months of her presidency, Arroyo has had two different spokespersons (or is it three?) and two different press secretaries (or is it three?). She has also engaged the services of an American public relations agency, Burson-Marsteller, to handle the publicity for some of her trips abroad. And now she has appointed her long-time publicist Dante Ang as senior consultant for public relations.

While a handful of her original Cabinet nominees have been hounded by controversy, the changes have been fast and almost furious at the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) and the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson. In her original team, among the first to be replaced was her spokesperson, Renato Corona, who became her chief of staff and went on to be appointed justice of the Supreme Court.

Then last month, Press Secretary Noel Cabrera left the Cabinet -- to join the foreign service. In both instances, the President tapped veteran journalist Rigoberto Tiglao to fill the vacancies.

But Tiglao suddenly remembered that he had a commitment to teach on a fellowship for six months at the Kyoto University. Arroyo then designated Secretary Silvestre Afable of the Presidential Management Staff to assume Tiglao's twin posts in the meantime.

For a time at least, Tiglao enjoyed the President's full confidence. Only last December, she told Inquirer editors and reporters she didn't find it necessary to confer daily with her spokesperson because "we think alike."

Has there been a falling out between the two old friends, and is Tiglao gone for good? Everyone in the administration has been saying no. The President has denied that there was any conflict between Tiglao and Ang. But Tiglao's sudden departure for Japan and Ang's appointment seem to indicate otherwise.

If the President believes no one can do the job better, then it is well that she has given Ang an official title. Aside from serving as her personal publicist, Ang is said to have been a pervasive presence at the OPS and other government information agencies since Day One of her presidency.

Apparently this has been a major cause of friction between Ang and those occupying top positions in these agencies. No self- respecting executive would like to have anyone other than the boss looking over one's shoulder. So if Ang is running an office, he might as well be named to the position. As Ang himself has noted, his critics have been saying he has authority but not accountability. So now that he has an official position, hopefully he will be a less shadowy presence.

Accountability, however, is about the only nice thing one can reasonably expect from Ang's appointment. The achievement of his career has been the repackaging of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo into a Nora Aunor look-alike for her successful run at the vice presidency in 1998. He is also credited with the less-than- smashing makeover of the President to identify her with the masses. Thu Ang can be expected to preside over the further cheapening of the presidency and the idiotization of the Filipino.

He is going to get plenty of help from people who thrive on sycophancy. Like those officials of the Philippine Carabao Center in Muqoz. Nueva Ecija, who named their new-born test-tube carabao "Glory". Or the officials who have advertised a public toilet under the Kamias flyover in Quezon City as a project of the President, whose construction is being undertaken by the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. with the cooperation of the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Philippine National Police.

If this is one of the administration's flagship projects, then one gets an idea of where the nation is going. And if the President feels flattered by all this, then she deserves the officials she has appointed.

Given such a mind-set, Ang is perfect for the job the President has created for him.