I STAYED glued to the telly once the clock hit 2:30 p.m., awaiting the start of a presidential address to the nation that, in my mind, has been long in coming.
Maybe he will talk about inflation, and how the government is doing its best to make sure that this does not eat up the ordinary Filipino’s take home pay.
Maybe he will talk about foreign policy, what advances have been made with China over disputed territories and what gains were achieved from the trips to Israel and Jordan.
Maybe he will even talk about how the trip to the Holy Land has changed his view about God! Never mind if he says he had converted in the process, from being a lapsed Catholic to a conservative Jew.
There were three of four other “maybes” in my mind but then I was jolted out of my reverie by breaking news that the address to the people was being canceled.
Was the plan “void ab initio?” I joked.
Then a new announcement - instead of an address and a press conference, the President was going to treat us to a tete-a-tete with presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo. The same Panelo who was being interviewed by CNN Philippines on air and claiming he had no idea what was going to happen but was on the way to Malacañang nevertheless.
Eventually, the address that became a press conference that became a tete-a-tete unfolded before the eyes (and ears) of the nation... and I was one of those (A majority? A minority?) who began to wonder as the clock ticked “what the hell am I watching?”
It was the President, for sure, but the messages were lost to me.
There was the expected diatribe against Trillanes, which may have occupied some 1/3 to 1/5 of air time; there was a diatribe against the PMA “mistah” system; there was an announcement that the NFA chief was gone; and a repeat of the announcement that the CPP-NPA, the LP and Trillanes had joined forces in an attempt to oust the duly elected government of the Republic.
Of course there was a repeat of the presidential pledge of being willing to give up his life, honor and the presidency in the name of the Filipino people. (Pound on chest at this point).
As the show ended, I was half expecting SecSal to hold up an imaginary mirror and ask the President what he saw. Or to engage him in a word association game. Anything, really, to give the whole 90 or so minutes of ramblings some sense or some over-arching message that should mark any and every presidential communications activity.
But there was none.
If not for the fact that it was the President of the Philippines speaking, I could have closed my eyes and imagined I was having my weekly hair trimming while tuning in and out to the conversation among the barbers.
From ‘pepe’ to ‘dede’ to ‘tete’.
