Duterte’s comms team prodded to study ‘effectiveness’ of late-night address
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Nancy Binay on Wednesday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s communications team could look for ways to review the effectiveness of his taped late-night messages and improve its delivery.
“Baka kailangan nilang pag-aralan or review-hin kung nagiging effective ba itong current way na ginagawa ni Presidente. I think they have all the tools to check kung effective ba at kung ano ‘yung dapat i-improve pagdating dito sa taped messages ni Presidente,” Binay told reporters in an online media interview.
(Maybe they need to study or review if the current way the President is addressing the people is effective. I think they have all the tools to check if it’s effective and what they could improve when it comes to these taped messages of the President).
Duterte’s late-night messages, aired on state-run channels and streamed online, provide updates on COVID-19-related policies of the government. However, the President would often deviate to other topics.
READ: Celebs dismayed at late-night Duterte address, seek more transparency in COVID-19 measures
READ: Duterte ‘late-night talk show’ a ‘prelude to bad sleep’ – Hontiveros
Further, Binay said the executive department should have a more “calculated” approach in its COVID-19 messaging.
“For some, may ganoong perception, ‘pag ganun ‘yung pananalita na pwede nang maging kampante. Napakahalaga din kung papano ipe-phrase ng executive ‘yung messaging nila pagdating dun sa laban dito sa COVID,” she said.
(For some, there is a perception that we can be lax if that’s the way the remarks are phrased. The phrasing of the executive department’s messaging regarding the fight against COVID-19 is very important).
She was referring to a previous statement by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque that the country is “winning” the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a remark which Binay said was “too early” to say.
“Babalik tayo dun sa balancing act kasi ayaw naman natin na takutin ‘yung ating mga kababayan pero ayaw din naman natin silang maging kampante so dapat talaga calculated yung messaging pagdating dito sa virus,” the senator said.
(We will go back to that balancing act because we don’t want to scare the Filipino public but we don’t want them to be complacent as well that’s why there should be calculated messaging).
“Kailangan din maging maingat kung papano natin ipe-phrase yung mga statements natin and siguro baka mas maganda na maging conservative ‘yung way of crafting the messages na malaki pa rin ‘yung problema natin. Makikita naman natin dun sa ibang statement nila na parang ang dating eh, ‘We are doing okay’, pero hindi ganun ‘yung nararamdaman sa baba,” she added.
(They should also be cautious about how statements or remarks are phased, they should be conservative when crafting the messages that we still have a big problem ahead of us. We sometimes see that their other statements say, ‘We are doing okay’, but it’s not what the public feels).
As of July 7, Philippine health authorities have confirmed 47,873 COVID-19 cases in the country. Of the number 12,386 have recovered while 1,309 have succumbed to the disease.
Globally, the number of individuals infected with the new coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan City in China’s Hubei province late last year, surpassed 11.3 million. Over 532,000 have died from the disease across the world.
