All the President-Elect’s Men: Who Are They?
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte makes his way to the UP Film Center in the University of the Philippines Diliman for CNN Philippines’ Townhall last February 18. Christopher “Bong” Go (left), Duterte’s executive assistant, is behind him. Photo by Lito Ocampo
A PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENT or even president-elect publicly identifying the people he wants to play a key role in his administration may well serve purpose that the press could help accomplish. These announcements, perhaps unintentionally, serve as trial balloons that could prompt scrutiny by the public about the incoming president’s choices for people who will help him govern.
Such scrutiny, however, can only be done effectively by the press. If a prospective Cabinet member, for example, has some serious conflict of interest issues, it is the duty of the media to report the problem for the president’s consideration. So it is quite disappointing that nearly a month after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte first started announcing the names of prospective members of the new administration’s Cabinet, much of the press has failed in this function.
CMFR monitored reports from the broadsheets the Manila Bulletin, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star, the primetime news programs 24 Oras (GMA-7), Aksyon (TV5), Network News (CNN Philippines) and TV Patrol (ABS-CBN 2), and selected news websites from May 10 to 27.
During the monitor period, the primetime newscasts regularly reported the announcements of Duterte’s choices for both the transition team and the Cabinet on an almost daily basis.
Initial reports in the first week mentioned some names and even gave a few hints about other possible members of the committee and candidates for Cabinet posts. But very little information was provided about these personalities. The details included in the reports were mostly limited to the person’s name, educational background, occupation and connection to Duterte (whether a friend or a former classmate, etc.). Despite their efforts to keep up, the broadcast media failed to provide more useful information about the names mentioned during Duterte’s own interviews and press conferences as well as those of his staff.
Newspapers did not do any better. Not only were the reports relatively fewer—their contents were also identical to those already reported in the newscasts, with little additional information provided about the personalities mentioned.
There were attempts in earlier reports to provide adequate information on the key individuals in Duterte’s circle. TV Patrol (“Mga posibleng mapabilang sa administrasyon ni Mayor Duterte, pinangalanan na,“May 10, 2016) and the Inquirer (“I will be a dictator vs bad guys—Duterte,” May 11, 2016) provided brief backgrounders on some of the personalities being eyed for Cabinet posts. GMA’s 24 Oras focused on Duterte’s executive assistant Bong Go (“Bong Go, exec. Asst. ni Duterte mula 1998 at kanyang personal at political affairs handler,” May 12, 2016).
Unfortunately, most of the early reports were not helpful in informing the public about the qualifications of the individuals named as prospective leaders of the Duterte administration.
The trend held for two weeks. Most of the reports did not provide additional information about Duterte’s transition team and the persons he had named as incoming secretaries as well as those being considered for other posts, such as their credentials and track record in government service if any, their connections with business and other interests, their stand on the issues confronting the departments they’re being considered for, among other matters.
It was only in the reports toward the end of May when the reporting caught up with some of the prospective appointees. Even then, most of the personalities remained only names or identified simply by their connection to Duterte.
In the wake of their designations, Rappler published profiles on lawyer Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s legal counsel and now presidential spokesperson (“Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo and his high-profile cases,” May 18, 2016), and Bong Go (“The man they call Bong Go,” May 27, 2016). Panelo’s designation had become the subject of controversy because he once served as the lawyer of the members of the Ampatuan clan accused of planning the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre.
As for Go, very little was known about him prior to his involvement with the Duterte campaign, other than the fact that he has been practically in every picture of Duterte, suggesting his importance to the president-elect. But Rappler’s profile gave readers a better picture of Go, discussing his history with Duterte and the role he played which led to the former’s candidacy for president.
An Inquirer report also provided background information on some of the individuals nominated by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, noting their educational backgrounds, track record, advocacies and other affiliations (“Reds name 2 ex solons, ex UP prof for cabinet,” May 27, 2016). Rappler also published a similar report but it focused only on UP Professor Judy Taguiwalo and former congresswoman Liza Masa (“UP professor Taguiwalo for DSWD secretary,” May 27, 2016).
An editorial which also appeared in the Inquirer raised the conflict of interest issue in the naming of Las Piñas Representative Mark Villar to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The piece pointed out his family’s status as one of the country’s largest property developers (“Blatant horse-trading,” May 21, 2016), and took exception to the timing of the younger Villar’s appointment as the Nacionalista Party (NP)— chaired by his father—had just signed a coalition agreement with Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). He is the son of real estate magnate and former Senator Manuel “Manny Villar and incumbent Senator Cynthia Villar, who earlier defended her son and denied any conflict of interest, citing her husband’s case involving the controversial C-5 road extension project. (“Senator Villar to son’s critics: We build homes, not roads,” May 31, 2016)
As Duterte’s inauguration draws near on June 30, the public expects the press to provide more relevant coverage of the other personalities that the president-elect has chosen to be in his inner circle. After all, they will be the ones tasked to execute the new president’s vision and it would be a shame if the press kept the public ignorant about the men and women who will run the country for the next six years.
You missed Philstar.com’s interactive infographic showing the
associations of the possible Cabinet appointees. It is yet to be updated
but it serves the purpose you mentioned above:
httpss://www.philstar.com/news-feature/2016/05/21/1585511/whos-who-dutertes-anointed-ones