Senators give advice to PCOO, Palace after Duterte ratings drop

Senators Migz Zubiri. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Less media exposure, more ground-breaking and ribbon-cutting affairs.

Senator Miguel Zubiri gave those  pieces of advice to President Rodrigo Duterte’s communications team after the Chief Executive recently suffered a decline in his approval ratings.

“I think, the President, my humble advice is maybe less press conferences and more ground-breakings, inaugurations and more ribbon-cuttings of big ticket items na mararamdaman ng ating bayan,” Zubiri told reporters on Monday.

The senator, who is allied with Duterte, said the people are getting frustrated because what they only see is bad news about the administration.

“Ang daming good news na napapabayaan so we appeal to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), to Secretary Andanar, to promote the good news kasi parati na lang bad news ang nakikita ng ating mga kababayan so syempre mafu-frustrate sila. It’s one way of arresting the decline of the President’s approval ratings,” Zubiri pointed out.

But Senate Majority leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III believed that the decrease in the satisfaction ratings of Mr. Duterte should not be a cause for alarm.

“Hindi naman nakakapagtaka ‘yung bababa, lalo na sabi ng iba 24/7 ang atake sa kanya. Pero what do you do? ‘Yun tanong natin doon. Six years nga siya kaya kahit na mag-zero rating nya, Presidente pa rin siya. Anong gagawin natin?” Sotto said.

On the contrary, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Mr. Duterte and his team should take the ratings drop in the survey seriously.

“They should worry about that. Normally nakita nating drop mga single digits. Pero this time hindi lang double digit, it’s more than 15 percent. So, that’s something they should consider when they do their messaging,” he noted.

Lacson said Duterte might have been too carefree with his pronouncements that this affected the public’s perception on his leadership.

Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito advised the administration to focus not only on the “drug war” but on other issues like joblessness, food security and health as well.

He then admitted that like others, he is also getting impatient with the slow action of the government on the infrastructure projects.

“It’s a wake up (call) for the administration, for the President and the President’s men to expedite things na kung pwede bilisan lahat kasi ako medyo nababagalan din talaga ako sa infrastructure. We just need patience, ‘yung reforms ng infrastructure development, dapat may makita na,” he said.         /kga