Folks all over the world think that the situation in the White House is becoming increasingly unscrewed from reality—but the Americans weren’t the first to gain that distinction.
Several highly placed denizens of the White House have been noted to have a supernatural talent for obfuscation. Consultant to the President Kellyanne Conway gave the world “alternative facts,” spokesperson Sean Spicer erroneously claimed an overflow crowd for President Trump’s inauguration, and Trump recently referred to an imaginary immigration-related incident in Sweden.
But what those people may not know is that we were way ahead of them on that front. It’s more punk in the Philippines!
Just recently Presidential Spokesperson Martin Andanar raised eyebrows when he recently referred to a destabilization plot to overthrow the government.
He also alleged that US$1,000 in payola was given to certain Senate reporters in exchange for publicizing the claims of SPO3 Arthur Lascañas about the existence of the Davao Death Squad.
The group of Senate reporters issued a strongly-worded statement that denied Andanar’s payola allegations, even as Andanar himself could provide no concrete proof of such.
Likewise, his claim that there is a “protracted political drama aimed to destroy the President and topple his administration” was gainsaid by the military.
Col. Edgard Arevalo, public affairs office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, responded, “Based on our monitoring, negative. We have not monitored any destabilization attempt that will be done on this government of President Duterte.”
Andanar said he was told by a source that a “monetary” offer was made to some reporters, but after the backlash he admitted “mayroong nagsumbong”—literally “someone told on…” or “tattled.” So this is the new state of the intelligence report—unsubstantiated claims that could likely be fabricated?
Andanar was, not too long ago, a member of the media community himself, and should be aware of journalism ethics. To accuse some reporters of wrongdoing on the basis of unverified gossip is unfair and irresponsible.
The White House occupants at least make up their own spins, whether on purpose or not. But we’re way ahead of them—our Palace spox listens to other people’s careless whispers and accepts them as truth.
Any employee will tell you that among the bosses from hell are those who manage based on “bulong-bulong” (whisper-whisper). In that sort of environment, the sycophants and backbiters triumph, the “maninira” (literally, “those who destroy”) prevail, and truth becomes optional.
It’s difficult to trust just anybody and any new administration will have to grope its careful way along, weeding the no-gooders from the do-gooders. But chismis (gossip) is not reliable and at best will only show smoke, not the fire.
But as Trump supporters have shown, facts aren’t enough to change our minds and reason only goes so far. Mercier and Sperber’s The Enigma of Reason says that this is a result of human evolution, which rewards cooperation that enables humans to live in collaborative groups.
The current environment of information overload and the need to quickly discern between true versus fake news is just too overwhelming for some. “This is one of the many cases in which the environment changed too quickly for natural selection to catch up,” the two researchers said.
This gives the advantage to the shrewd and savvy manipulators and those who have personal agendas to grind.
Andanar, in keeping with the high responsibility of his office, should have fact-checked any information that came his way rather than swallowing them whole and regurgitating hook, line, and sinker.
Though he later claimed that, as a Visayan, his unfamiliarity with Tagalog led to a “misunderstanding” with the reporters, this is “palusot”—an attempt to slip through—and we know it, and it is all the more galling because we’re being played for fools.
As I understand the function of a spokesperson, they are supposed to convey official statements in behalf of the President to the media and be able to answer questions that arise from that communication.
But Andanar’s track record reflects that he goes off the rails, blames the media for negative write-ups (shades of Trump), and in general seemingly fails to live up to the high standards expected of someone in his position.
Andanar is too much like Sean Spicer to be of benefit to the Palace. His main claim to fame is that he was on the scene first.
Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember
