Carlo Ople

The headline of Inquirer for the past two days clearly shows how unpopular President Glora Macapagal-Arroyo is. Apparently the results of the recently conducted survey shows PGMA as the most unpopular president across all social classes in the history of our country. To counter this, the Palace has tried to literally “buy” the “PR points” from the poor. Instead of shooting for long term reforms, they’ve opted to give fish instead of teaching people how to fish. If that’s the case, then they should just remove the VAT from oil so that the decision on what to buy, when to buy, and where to buy will just fall in the hand of the consumer and not the government. That makes more sense that political dole-outs which are obviously aimed to just boost the image of the current administration.

However, I’m pretty sure that not all of the VAT proceeds are being given out as purely cash or electricity subsidies. Another problem that the current administration is facing is that they really lack good PR strategy. The palace should consider getting a PR Manager that can strategize communication channels for all social classes. For example, I’ve heard that the government has a micro-financing program for wives of drivers. This should be publicized instead of the obvious dole-outs that they’ve been giving away left and right. In fact, they should have more programs like this which encourage entrepreneurship.

The President will get her day in court in the upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA). This is the venue where she reports her administration’s achievements. I’m very interested to hear what she has to say and what her detractors will counter in response.