The communications team of the Duterte administration is an embarrassment.
One would think that it would get the best minds, the most circumspect of staff members and most accountable of editors, in delivering the government’s supposed message of change to the people and the world.
The most recent gaffe is the news item reposted from the Chinese news agency that characterized the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, favorable to the Philippines, as an ill-founded award.
The Philippines sought the help of the court in The Hague amid China’s show of force in parts of the South China Sea that form part of our exclusive zones.
The parroted line: “More than one year after an ill-founded award at a South China Sea arbitration unilaterally delivered by an ad hoc tribunal in The Hague, the situation in the South China Sea has stabilized and improved thanks to the wisdom and sincerity of China and the parties concerned.”
This is natural to China, which refused to participate in the arbitration case and which said the PCA did not have jurisdiction on the issue. For the Philippines, it is unnatural—and unforgivable—to echo this report, even as it has been taken down.
That’s not the first or the greatest embarrassment, either. During its coverage of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings this week, state-owned PTV 4 flashed a summary of information onscreen that said Burma was the capital of Myanmar. The same screen also showed atrocious grammatical errors.
A recent photo bore the caption “Caption.”
The errors are not limited to grammar. The PNA also ran a story that said 95 out of 105 nations agree there were no extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, and a photo that was made out to be from Marawi but was actually from Vietnam.
An assistant secretary for communications blurs the line between official functions and personal advocacy.
One slip, at a stretch two or three, may be forgivable. But when incompetence becomes a habit, and disregard for accuracy becomes the norm, then it’s clearly time for an overhaul. President Duterte may believe he has bigger problems to solve, and we are sure he does, but acting on this would save him a lot of trouble in the years to come.
There is an expression: “Jack of all trades, master of none” that applies to people who dabble with so many preoccupations but know only the rudiments of each without being experts at anything. Some people in the government’s communications team must be worse: They have just one job—and yet fail spectacularly at it.