"Roque said he would ponder his fate over the weekend." “‹
"Roque said he would ponder his fate over the weekend."
The job of presidential spokesman is a thankless, no-win situation. One is made to lie for his principal—or suffers being left in the dark.
This, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque found out when his boss Rodrigo Duterte himself announced that he had gone to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center for tests for possible cancer. Roque had earlier said the President simply had some “private time.”
The President’s health is a matter of national concern, fueling speculation on his physical well-being.
The President himself added fuel to the fire when he said “cancer na kung cancer,” and then remarked that Vice President Leni Robredo would make a “weak president.”
Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, who knows more about President Duterte than anyone else, then announced the President was taking a brief rest in Hong Kong with partner Honeylet Avancena and their daughter.
Because he was left out of the loop, Roque said he would ponder his fate over the weekend. His run for a Senate seat in next year’s mid-term elections has also dimmed.
Presidential Communications and Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar confirmed Roque is on his way out he revealed that Duterte had offered Roque his post of secretary in a revamped and combined Presidential Communications Operations Office and Office of the Press Secretary.
The position of presidential spokesman is a far more important and highly visible role. Whether Roque will accept what seems like a demotion will be known today.
As it is, Roque is neither here nor there. His chances to win a Senate seat appears dim without the President’s support.
His staying on either as presidential spokesman or press secretary appear just as remote considering President Duterte’s uncertain health condition.
For sure Roque won’t be retained in a Leni Robredo presidency if and when she succeeds Duterte.
Robredo if she does succeed Duterte as provided in the Constitution, will be inheriting a government in crisis. Inflation, at 6.7 percent, is the highest in nine years. Prices of prime commodities are further spiked by the excise tax on imported crude oil. The country’s foreign policy is torn between China and Russia on one hand against the US on the other hand. The president’s bloody war on illegal drugs despite allegations of extrajudicial killing of suspects has not curbed the crime rate.
And then, there is the controversial proposal to shift to a federal/ parliamentary form of government pending before Congress. Robredo will also have to deal with the midterm elections next year, so her Liberal Party can recover lost ground to the PFP-Laban Party of Duterte and Pimentel.
Yes, indeed Robredo has a plateful of challenges to belie Digong’s claim of her being a “weak president.”
But then, life is full of surprises. Who would have thought that a local like Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would win as president in 2016? Philippine political history has shown that senators and vice presidents are usually the ones who get elected as President but Duterte broke that cycle when he won with 16-million votes over rivals Mar Roxas, Grace Poe and Jejomar Binay.
Death is a grim subject. But just for the record—Philippine presidents who died while in office included Manuel Roxas and Ramon Magsaysay who perished in a plane crash in Cebu’s Mount Manunggal.
We sincerely hope President Duterte will be able to finish his six-year term and stabilize the country’s economic and political situation. Otherwise, we all have to wait for the next presidential elections in 2022. Time is something we cannot afford to waste amid political and economic turbulence.