Luistro: Working with media like training dragon

Dept of Education Sec. Br.Armin Luistro INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

In his six-year stint as head of the Department of Education (DepEd), Secretary Armin Luistro’s relationship with the media since he first joined the DepEd in 2010 may be likened to that of the animated movie “How To Train Your Dragon.”

“Over the past six years, I think the engagement with the media is like befriending a dragon. At first, as a dragon, you spit out fire and you look like you’re out to eat us all,” a calm and relaxed Luistro said in his speech at the farewell lunch that the DepEd hosted for the media at its headquarters in Pasig City.

Luistro, who admitted to being “necessarily cautious if not suspicious” of the media in the early years of his term, said it was only after he listened to media’s countless questions that he eventually learned to understand that “you don’t need to kill the dragon and that you can befriend the dragon.”

“That wasn’t easy for me—someone who’s new to government [service] and accustomed to private life,” said Luistro, president of De La Salle University before he accepted the education portfolio in 2010.

Not all rosy

Luistro’s engagements with the media since he took office weren’t all rosy, especially during his first interview in June 2010 after he officially became the head of the DepEd. Luistro even described that moment as a “very, very bad encounter.”

At that time, the proposed sex education in schools was a hot topic. After then Education Secretary Mona Valisno turned over the post to him, Luistro was asked by reporters on his position on the proposal.

Luistro was caught on camera saying: “You know, the media is not helping resolve the issues. They’ll pit us against each other and they won’t discuss the issues properly, calmly. We will talk about it without media, so don’t ask me about sex education because you’re not giving any help.”

Media literacy

He told reporters covering the DepEd that because of that incident, President Aquino ordered Cabinet secretaries to undergo a media literacy program.

“I was blamed by the new secretaries. It was because of me that we needed to undergo such seminar,” Luistro said, drawing laughter from the DepEd officials and around 40 reporters at the event.

“It was toward the end of my term that I realized that you were actually doing your job. For you not to ask questions will make you lazy. For us who are new [to government], it was a bit hard to see. Over time, I realized that the engagement is also a relationship,” he said.

Great ride

He pointed out that if it were not for media’s incessant questioning, the public would have not known of the reforms they have initiated in the department, most especially the landmark K-12 education reform program.

Luistro, who steps down on Friday as the first education secretary to finish a six-year term, described his journey with the media at the DepEd as “a great ride.”