Adjusting to a New Presidency
Arroyo was more formal in dealing with reporters, compared to Estrada who responded even to rumors. Palace reporters had to carefully craft their questions since Arroyo refused to answer queries premised on unconfirmed reports and speculations. She also disliked questions that pertained to politics.
At first she had press conferences, periodic luncheon meetings with the MPC, and a few ambush interviews–until her public display of temper seemed to receive more media attention than her efforts at improving governance.
As the controversies involving her administration mounted, Arroyo had less direct dealings with the press corps, but provided us with other resource persons. The presidential spokesman was eventually assisted by one deputy spokesman, then by two.
In 2008, she designated Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as concurrent Palace spokesman and the following year, Gary Olivar joined the roster of spokesmen. Five Palace officials took turns giving daily briefings on weekdays, and weekend radio interviews on the state-run Radyo ng Bayan, until the last full day of her term.
Before President Benigno Simeon Aquino III officially assumed the presidency, one reporter who covered his campaign said that Aquino would be the opposite of Arroyo as far as media relations are concerned. He said that Aquino is a tireless talker, and that one long chat would be enough to provide stories for a whole week.
He wasn’t joking. I witnessed this myself when the President had dinner with the Palace media for the first time. Aquino sat with us at the MPC officers’ table and talked about typhoon Basyang, told anecdotes from the campaign, and discussed his plan to seek the amendment of the law on the protection of citizens’ rights. He answered all questions about his dislike for fowl dishes, plans to redesign Philippine notes, the SONA, text messaging and his receipt of scam texts, his observance of traffic rules, his latest appointments and the selection process, and his being compared to U.S. President Barack Obama—among many others. He only paused when a question was being asked or when he was putting food or drink into his mouth.
We thought our interview had ended when he left our table to belt out a couple of songs with the live band, but he rejoined us afterwards to pick up where he had left off. He would chat with other reporters and answer more questions at another table later on, even as his voice got hoarse from shouting over the din of live music.
When I was asked to write this essay, I was supposed to answer whether I have to make adjustments when a new President takes over. I’ve always had to. Judging from the first month of the new administration, I may have to do that even more; it’s par for the course.
Mia M. Gonzalez is the Malacañang reporter of BusinessMirror. She covered the same beat for the defunct Today. She is the acting president of the Malacañang Press Corps.
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