“At this point, presidential nominees should get into their thick heads that they are just alter egos of the President and should not make political statements without clearing first with Malacanang”
Santa Banana, newly designated National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos has been issuing statements affecting national security which I think are premature because I don’t believe they have the approval of President-elect Bongbong Marcos!
For instance, Carlos has been quoted as saying, “We are done with peace talks with the communists.”
The connotation of such a statement is that Bongbong Marcos has made up his mind not to talk to the communists.
Clearly, my gulay, the implication is that so long as the Marcos Jr. administration is concerned, the door is closed to the communist movement.
In the first place, Carlos forgets that as far as her nomination is concerned, she is just an adviser, meaning it will be the President who will make such a policy statement.
While Carlos may think that further peace talks with the communist movement would be useless, fruitless and a big loss of time and effort considering the communists are using the peace talks only for propaganda purposes, it is not the national security adviser who should be issuing such statements but the incoming President himself.
Carlos is simply just an adviser on security matters. Obviously, Carlos does not realize what her job description as National Security Adviser is and what it entails.
Carlos added that “red-flagging” should be stopped by the government. Again, it is not for Carlos to make that statement because it involves other branches of government and must be reviewed by them.
In the first place, that is a political statement which only the incoming President can and should make.
At this point, presidential nominees should get into their thick heads that they are just alter egos of the President and should not make political statements without clearing first with Malacanang.
It should be made clear to Carlos and other nominees what their job description entails.
And it should be made clear by the incoming Executive Secretary that only the President can make policy and political decisions and political statements.
Similarly, the issue of whether or not to accredit bloggers and vloggers to attend presidential press conferences and other activities is a matter of policy that only a president can make.
The insistence of the newly-designated Press Secretary, Trixie Cruz Angeles, who also heads the Presidential Communications Operations Office, to accredit bloggers and vloggers may be an effort by the new Press Secretary to encourage the incoming President, but a close analysis of the plan of Press Secretary-designate is clearly dangerous and a clear insult to mass media — print, radio and television – accreditation activities of the President.
Accrediting bloggers and vloggers to presidential activities, press coverages and activities will open the floodgates to people without accountability contrary to all tenets of journalistic activities, Santa Banana!
It is clearly dangerous because bloggers and vloggers can say anything online which journalists are limited to because they are bound by the truth and objectivity.
Santa Banana, it’s like opening the floodgates to people to say anything they want to say regardless of the truth that journalists are bound to observe and live for, my gulay!
I don’t know what President-elect Bongbong thinks about it, but to endorse the plan of the Press Secretary-designate would not only be very dangerous. As I said, it clearly is an insult to Philippine mass media.
This is what happens when someone is ignorant of the relations of the Press Secretary and mass media, which has been a long standing relationship, which bloggers and vloggers do not have with mass media.
They just say what they want to say, true or not, because they are not bound by the truth, in which case disinformation or misinformation is the result.
I hate to say this. But Press Secretary-designate Trixie Cruz Angeles is definitely unaware what her job entails, not only to further presidential communications with the media and to enhance the President’s activities and messages and especially to cement the PCOO’s relation with mass media.
This is what happens when somebody like Angeles becomes Press Secretary — clearly ignorant of what her job entails.
Other Presidents before BBM used to nominate well-known and respected members of media as press secretaries.
Press secretaries from mass media have the competence and background to further the relationship of the President with the press.
With this as background, a Press Secretary gets the cooperation of all forms of mass media.
But then with a President-designate like Angeles who is already ignorant of what the job of a Press Secretary entails, to enhance the President’s relationship with mass media, a President is exposed to danger and would in effect be insulting mass media.
As I said, President-elect Bongbong, would do better to place Angeles or designate her in another position.
All the other nominations of Bongbong have been received well by media except Angeles, a blogger herself, seeking accreditation of bloggers and vloggers, which could be a big problem to the President-elect.
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There have been reactions to my earlier column suggesting a way to legalize the ownership of townhouses at Ecology Village, now sitting on the government-owned former Napocor Power Line alongside San Lorenzo and Dasmarinas Villages in Makati City.
The unit owners of the townhouses technically became squatters when the Cory Aquino government cut off the lease of the townhouses with the government.
Some proposed the country’s big conglomerates take over and buy out the government property with the buyout of the homeowners of the townhouses which have been appraised between P10 million and P15 million, depending on improvement.
They point out that Manuel Villar, now the richest Filipino tycoon, or San Miguel, or Ricky Razon, or Megaworld’s Andrew Tan, can easily buy out the property and turn it into a big commercial establishment.
Frankly, since the government needs funds, why not privatize the prime Napocor Power Line.
That makes sense. I am sure there will be conglomerates that will bid for the privatization of the Napocor power line, including the townhouses and mine, at the right price.
That will solve the Ecology anomaly.
With this privatization the owners of those townhouses, now in their twilight years, will be able to sell their units.