THE KIDS SPEECHES By Jojo Robles | Jul. 11, 2014 When Joker Arroyo described the Aquino administration as a “student government,” he wasn’t far off the mark. To cite just one example, the President’s go-to speechwriter is barely out of school and can still pass for a student.Yes, I’ve been informed that only one person writes Aquino’s speeches. And this person is not some established writer like Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III or anyone like that in the palace’s huge staff, but a young Ateneo graduate whose only previous writing experience was in the university school paper, the Guidon. I’ve long wondered who writes Aquino’s speeches, which I assume are the product of a committee of senior writers, top-flight image-makers and designated keepers of the Yellow faith entrusted with the important task of keeping the President faithful to his own message in the many speeches he gives year in and year out. His upcoming talk before Congress (during which he is expected to defend his administration’s DAP), promises to be his most important address of the year, if not of his entire term, so I tried to discover once again who crafts his speeches. The search led me directly to a young man, still in his twenties, who palace informants tell me is the sole speechwriter of Aquino. This youngster, who also went to Xavier School before going to college in Ateneo, holds the position of presidential assistant—and he’s been writing Aquino’s speeches almost exclusively since the President assumed the highest post in the land in 2010. The kid is now hard at work crafting Aquino’s coming Sona, I’ve been told. And if you really want to know who he is, go ask his friend, the head of the Presidential Management Staff—a still-young woman by the name of Julia Abad. Yes, that would be the daughter of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, the architect of DAP. Funny how they keep it in the family, right? * * * Before some young people protest that I’m being biased against them, I’d like to say that I’m not. But I believe that no matter how talented a young writer is, if he doesn’t have the benefit of historical perspective and the advice of people who’ve been around longer than he has, his work is bound to come off as shallow, combative and amateurish—all of which are adjectives that have been routinely used to describe Aquino’s speeches and actions, by the way. Ultimately, of course, it’s Aquino who should take the blame for hiring this young guy straight out of his school paper to write his presidential speeches exclusively. It’s the same situation regarding those who question the quality of the legal (or the in-house propaganda) advice that Aquino has been getting, particularly when he and Abad dreamed up DAP and now that they have to clean up after the mess. I’d like young, imaginative people in tech startups and such other enterprises where their creativity and willingness to break from tradition are actually valued. In presidential advisers, lawyers and speechwriters, I’ll go with a thorough knowledge of history, economics and the social sciences and an obsession with accuracy, fairness and compassion. Having said that, good luck with the Sona, kid. Even if you don’t realize it, you’ll need all the help you can get.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 00:41:54 +0000
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