Saturday, July 31, 2010


TOO MANY CHEF-CHEFS SPOIL THE BRAT

Within the mammoth government information and propaganda organization in the days of President Cory Aquino, then Press Secretary Tomas 'Buddy' Gomez III and radio-TV section czarina and presidential niece (now cousin) Maria V. Montelibano were conducting early probing sorties preparatory for a bitter clash of control for the information and propaganda turf with its gargantuan budget.

Many people in media and in Malacanang were looking forward to the coming Buddy-Mary fight. The wise money was on the latter but not only because she is Cory's niece but also because she has been known as a battler with extensive knowledge on media, especially radio and television. She was fiercely loyal to her aunt.

And although Buddy was one tough character, he was still wet behind his ears as far as his new job as Press Secretary was concerned. He had a so-so background as a part-time radio technician and public relations runner for the late industrialist and tycoon Don Enrique Zobel.

He earned his spurs under the Aquino administration as the 'Peeping Tom' in Hawaii's Makiki Heights who hounded the late President Marcos.

That expected clash with Mary was just one test. Buddy had to contend with the "shadows" in Malacanang which drove veteran newsman Teddy Benigno out as Press Secretary. And of course, there were those numerous media people who didn't buy Buddy's confrontational style.

Media had already fired its first salvo against Buddy: the hitherto little-known fact that he has been married thrice and divorced twice. That immediately put him on the defensive, since he had to act as chief defender of a supposedly moral government. But he showed he could take it as well as dish it out. He took it on the chin and offered no alibis, saying he just wanted to "do it my way," like Sinatra.

Well, as he had said on his first day in office, he was looking forward to some "fun and excitement."

Not so much of the present set-up wherein we now have three men running the same office, a.k.a. the Office of the Press Secretary. They now call it the Presidential Communications Group manned by former FarEast Bank executive Sonny Coloma, blogger Edwin Lacierda, ABS-CBN hotshots Ricky Carandang and Manolo Quezon. But to date, I yet have to see Manolo assert his self in the Palace. If he does, he may be doing a lot of explaining. As for Ricky, many believe (and I share their sentiments) that his ego is bigger than 'The Big Picture.' And where is Mary Montelibano in all these? Perhaps she's keeping a distance this time as it doesn't look so smooth as they begin to fumble while communicating the President's programs and intentions to the public. As the saying goes, "too many cooks spoil the broth." In this case, jockeying for turf and influence as "too many chef-chefs may spoil the brat in office."

Talk is that one giant network gets a big advantage over another giant network simply because the new bosses in the Palace are their top anchors on leave.

We shall all see how they handle their jobs. Will it contribute to a steady acceptance rating (for now) for P-Noy, or will their egos all self-destruct, pulling down their "accidental president?"

Wednesday, July 28, 2010


YESTERDAY'S PRAYER TODAY

Worth repeating is part of a prayer recited by Senator Aquilino 'Nene' Pimentel Jr. many years ago. Appropriately so, the same prayer can be directed at the current administration, President Noynoy Aquino and the Hacienda Luisita issue in particular.

"You partake of rich food even as I can only have the crumbs that I scrape from the bottom of garbage cans. But I do not begrudge you because food is not divine, it is only made by man. But when you have hundreds of hectares of land for your plantations and your cattle and I have none even for my bare subsistence, then I must take that against you, envy you and begrudge you for excluding me from my divine birth right. I must demand that you share with me, at least, a little of what land you possess, not in charity but in justice because land is God's gift to mankind. You did not create it. Land belongs to all of us. It is not only yours. But ours. Yours and mine. Give me then, o brother of mine, a just share of the land of our birth. For unless you do so, the ineffable wrath of the Almighty and the righteous anger of the dispossessed will likely fall, heaven forbid, upon your head of greed much sooner than you think."

Yes, he can direct the same prayer today to PCOS, "President Cory's Only Son."
(Image from http://pcij.org/)