senator miriam santiago loves cerge remonde – loves for him to resign

we take with keen interest senator miriam santiago’s point of view that cerge remonde should be “eliminated”. errr, we think senator santiago means remonde has to resign his day job of press secretary of the arroyo administration.

we have written about cerge remonde in this blog before, one was in reference to the OBOBS parade on the million peso dinner arroyo had in new york (read here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/category/cerge-remonde/) and the other on cerge remonde’s boob job booboo. not his boobs but president arroyo’s breast augmentation scandal. on the last one, one of the lesson learned is that cerge remonde makes it a point a point to look at the boobs of president arroyo. he has done it so often and might be on a regular basis because he was able to compare the size of president arroyo’s breasts to those of sexy showbiz stars.  (read ans click here:  the lessons arroyo’s breast implants taught us – cerge remonde looks at arroyo’s breasts)

we love  to see where this love that santiago has on remonde will go. senator santiago is one of our favorites in the senate. we think she is one senator the country should never do without. but we can’t say the same thing on cerge remonde.

read in full here: Santiago calls Remonde ‘illiterate and ridiculous’

arroyo quits as LAKAS-Kampi chair – will arroyo’s “kiss of death” on gilbert teodoro disappear with it?

no, we do not think so. but that is what they want to achieve here – arroyo will resign as LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD chair to get some trappings of independence for teodoro to remove arroyo’s “kiss of death” on gilbert teodoro’s presidential run.

most of the admin senatorial candidates lost in the last election mainly on the basis of the strong association of these candidates with arroyo. most of the opposition in that election won even senator trillanes who was in jail on coup d’etat charges, trillanes was unable to campaign and had penny advertising funds but he won the senate seat just on the basis of his attempt to unseat arroyo from power.

teodoro is presently down in the dumps in the survey, with a measly 4% while the dominant front runner, noynoy aquino is at 60%. teodoro’s poor performance is seen by many as due to arroyo’s kiss of death, among other reasons. arroyo is the most unpopular president of the country and suffer with no trust among the population.

arroyo giving up chair in favor of teodoro is nothing but a cosmetic application. it is already too late, people already associate teodoro with arroyo. and besides, there is really no escaping it.

we expect more spin from malacanang on this matter and most specially those coming from the teodoro campaign to drum up the idea of independence and the cutting of ties from arroyo. how will they do it? and will it work?

Arroyo to quit as Lakas-Kampi chair

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abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/07/2009 5:11 PM

MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be resigning as national chair of the ruling party, Lakas-Kampi-CMD, and will be turning over the party leadership to its standard-bearer Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Malacañang announced on Saturday.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo has “stated her desire” to turn over the party leadership to Teodoro. He said the President “wanted to pass the torch to the younger generation.”

Not quitting Lakas-Kampi

Secretary Gabby Claudio, Mrs. Arroyo’s adviser on political affairs, meanwhile, clarified that Mrs. Arroyo is not resigning from the ruling coalition party.

“President Arroyo is not quitting the administration party. She is merely turning over its chairmanship to Secretary Gibo Teodoro in keeping with the party tradition,” he said.

Memo To: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – the obobs parade on the presidential jet that got away

Memo To: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,

i hope mrs. president you will not mind us taking a different format on this memo. we are changing the format to be able to put across the point we wish to make — your staff once again made you step on shit and yes, the obobs parade goes on.

we are quoting here the headline news that PDI carried today.

Under fire for expensive dinners in New York and Washington, D.C., President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has decided to forgo plans to purchase a new presidential jet to the tune of P1.2 billion.

“I’m formally announcing that the President has ordered the cancellation of the purchase of a presidential jet,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said at his weekly media forum aired on the government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Malacañang abandoned the planned purchase only two days after it announced that the Office of the President had set aside P1.2 billion for a “factory-new,” twin-engine, pressurized aircraft for Ms Arroyo’s travels .

 The Office of the President’s bids and awards committee came out with a newspaper advertisement containing such specifications.

1. mrs. president – don’t your staff talk to each other? is there no approval process in place? are your staff not trained to think at all?

it looked like to me the head of the Office Of The President’s bids and awards committee who released the print ad for the purchase of the jet does not think at all. it’s either that or this person has not been reading the newspapers or watching tv for the last 5 to 7 days.

the P1 Million dinner in NY have been headlines for each of the last few days. there is a raging issue, in fact scandal around and it runs smack into the planned purchase of a presidential jet.

i find it quite elementary and its no brain surgery that you might want to put on hold the release of the ad for the purchase a billion peso jet for your use. the person might not have the power to decide on his own but it’s commonsensical that he should re-clear the release of the ad.

Remonde said the President “doesn’t want people to say that she was putting her needs ahead, although come to think of it, it’s her successor who would benefit from it.”

2. geez, it is once again the words of this cerge remomde dude. first, he could have phrased that statement better. with the wording of the statement, remonde  actually gave the press and the people the very bullets they can  shoot at you. 

did he have to say ” doesn’t want people to say that she was putting her needs ahead“??? adding that thought into the statement  forces people to consider the idea when it could have been possible they did not think of it that way.

come to think of it, the fact that the purchase of a jet  was decided on and an ad was actually released for it actually says you are putting your needs ahead of the people. cancelling the order it does not erase it.

he could have just said something like “given the budget considerations and other matters, the president has decided to cancel the purchase of the jet”. end of press briefing.

communication 101 says – don’t give your audience the knives they will stab your heart with.

3. what is the point of this – “although come to think of it, it’s her successor who would benefit from it“. what did he intend to achieve in adding that?

are we supposed to feel sorry for your successor? does it make you a better president?

or is it  a lame-ass attempt to make you look magnanimous to your successor in some twisted logic?

with that statement does remonde expect the people to beg you to continue the purchase of a new jet for the sake of your successor?

to be honest, it is really difficult to figure out what he intends to achieve in adding that thought into the statement.

“This is the second time that the President has ordered [the purchase’s] cancellation even if this [buying a new aircraft] has long been recommended by the Presidential Airlift Wing several times,” Remonde said.

4. saying that it is the second time that you cancelled such an order also says this is the second time that you approved to make such an order.

this is a major purchase of your office given the price of more than a billion pesos. people who work under you will not process something to a point of making an order unless you have approved it. that is just the way things are done in an organization.

again, the fact that an ad was released says you gave it approval. it just does not make sense that they will release an ad if it did not have your approval first.

mrs. president, i don’t know about you, but this remonde dude gave the people knives to stab you with, confirmed you put your interest over others and narrated you make bad decisions.

once again, mrs. president the obobs parade is here.

yours truly.

~wawam~

Memo To: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – the P1Million Dinner and the obobs parade goes on

Dear Ms. Arroyo,

I went to the le cirque website to ogle at the restuarant that you and your party went to when you were in new york. I have to say I was very impressed. (http://www.lecirque.com/index2.htm)

I would have enjoyed the website ogling if not these flashbacks keep popping in my head. These are the most idiot tic things your press office has been doing on this matter.

Is it a certain Cerge Remonde who heads this office? He is serial screw-up, forgive the French, and this one on the Le Cirque dinner is the latest on the string of screw ups of Remonde.

• he has no control on information being released. he is at the mercy of the internet, journalists and the public. and all of these people seem to be way ahead of remonde every step of the way. any PR practitioner knows that in controversies like these, the best defense to apply is to be ahead of everyone. release the information ahead of everyone to control the direction of the messages.
• saying there were 100 people in attendance during the dinner was dumb. that number was floated as a way to rationalize the huge tab, making the average cost per person lower  thus thinking more people will accept the expense.  a 100 person guest list makes it an average of US$200.00 only (?!).
• there is a problem there – 100 people in attendance is ludicrous. that number is no longer “dinner” it is already a banquet. i do not think you can set up a banquet of that size in a restaurant like le cirque that fast. also, the le cirque website says they can seat only 93 pax.
• and then mr. remonde steps on his own foot when days after he says it was a “simple dinner” and to support the adjective “simple”, says you only had 2 tables
• ding! ding! ding! now the 100 guest list is shot to pieces. there is no way to fit 50 people in one table! i do not think le cirque or any restaurant can have a table big enough to fit 50 people in it.
• based on the picture posted in this blog on the main dining area of le cirque, the most number of seating at le cirque is 8 pax per table. that means at most, your party was at 18 people. that also means with a tab of US$20T, on average a whopping US$1,250  per person was spent. at today’s exchange rate, that is equivalent to P60,000 an amount that is more than an average person’s annual salary.
• at the very start, remonde justified the expense by saying no government money was spent and that a certain congressman romouldez took on the tab. the idea here was to shift blame to another person, a fall guy was nominated. having someone take up the bill “insulates” you.
• ding! ding! ding! days after the office of congressman romouldez issues a denial. the office said it was not romouldez who took up the bill but a certain Daniel an architect who lives in NY and is the brother of congressman romouldez.
• that just made you step on shit, mrs. president. (pardon the french) remonde had the right intention, but couldn’t he have planned the lie  better? one of the things taught in PR school is that if you need to lie, make sure the lie sticks. in other words – COORDINATE with the person you are elevating into a scapegoat idiot. obviously remonde did not clear with romouldez that he will be made the scapegoat in all of these.

mrs. president, i get this nasty feeling as the days progress, you will be led by mr. remonde to step on more shit. (forgive the french) so far, mr. remonde has failed in stopping the carnage and PR nightmare. what more, he has led you to bigger ones with more words he says.

you might also want to tell mr. remonde that telling the press, like a brat “this is the last time we will talk about this” won’t work. saying things like that to the press won’t scare them into not writing about it. he should know that the press actually does not need mr. remonde’s words to write about it. the press can get information elsewhere on their own. in fact on today’s papers, the topic is still there, on front page even. these words of mr. remonde don’t scare anyone nor does it stop anything.

although, mrs. president i hope you realize that while the press does not need mr. remonde’s words to write  about the scandal, it is mr. remonde’s words that got you into stepping into more shit.

this is NOT the first time mr. remonde has done this to you. (here is one more:  https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/the-lessons-arroyos-breast-implants-taught-us-cerge-remonde-looks-at-arroyos-breasts/)

this is the same cerge remonde who looks at your boobs and compares them to those of sexy stars that got you into one hell of a mess on your breast implants. if you want your life and the rest of your presidency take a more sane and less embarrassing trek to the finish, get rid of remonde. get rid of the obobs.

yours truly,

~wawam~

on arroyo’s boob job booboo – the heads of the bobo must roll

first of all, we agree on the action of asian hospital to ask the NBI to find out who squeezed squealed on arroyo’s boob job to the boob tube media. this medical staff of asian hospital who leaked the info on arroyo’s leaking breast implants must be penalized. if the maximum penalty is removal of the license to practice, it must be done.

the fact is this medical staff violated doctor-patient confidentiality. yes arroyo is the president of the country and its citizens need to know the state of the president’s health, but that should come from the president, the patient, not from the doctors. the doctors can only talk about the patient’s health  to media IF the the patient has agreed to it.

that out of the way — why did arroyo’s boob job become such a big issue? it is a very personal and private  matter. it became public only because of that asian hospital medical staff but  it became a controversy only because the malacanang press secretary, cerge remondo screwed it all up.

remonde handled the press briefing where he was asked about arroyo’s boob job in a most unprofessional and most incompetent manner. he should be fired for being so amateurish about it and for getting the president into this tornado of controversy about of all things her boobs.

before going to remonde, there is another person who also needs to be fired.

we think the first person to be fired should be the person who thought of the idea of using the swine flu self-quarantine as the cover to hide arroyo’s check up of the lumps and the leak of her breast implant.

we think the lumps were real. but since arroyo knew she had breast implants, it must have made her wonder if they leaked or if they were causing the lumps.

the lumps were not an issue. lumps on breasts of women are common and should be checked by doctors as soon as possible. but what got them worried was the possibility of the leaking breast implants. they probably thought the public knowing arroyo has breast implants will be scandalous.

the breast implants were the ones  pair they wanted to hide. they saw that as embarrassing to the president. so someone must have devised the plan to tell a lie about the boob-related-breast-implant-too  medical check-up by using the swine flu self quarantine as cover-up.

this person need to be fired from his/her job as that was where it all started. that lie that was devised got them into a string of errors.

press secretary cerge remonde and his boob job booboo

cerge remonde  must have been told only about the lumps on arroyo’s breast and the swine flu cover but he was not told about the breast implants. perhaps, it was judged to be too embarrassing to tell remonde.

not knowing about it explains why remonde reacted the way he did to the direct questions from media on arroyo’s breast implants. he did not know arroyo had breast implants, nobody told him. so when he was asked about them, he defended the honor of his boss by saying the things he did.

he defended his boss by saying in effect he has looked at arroyo’s boobs and they were not at all like the huge boobs of sexy stars. sexy stars have huge boobs because they have breast implants. arroyo’s were not as  big as those of the sexy stars thus as his logic went, arroyo did not have breast implants. he even added arroyo was not that kind of a woman.

defending arroyo and her honor was not his error. his incompetence and unprofessionalism were the errors that came from answering a question from the press  with an answer that he did not know for sure if it was the right answer.

the right answer to that kind of  a question is one that can only come from a medical report or a direct statement from the owner of the boobs in question. he had neither of those. the only thing he had were the times he looked at the boobs of arroyo.

one of the most important principles in Press Conference  101 is – give an answer to the question only if you are sure you have the right answer to it. if you are not sure your answer is correct or that you do not have direct knowledge of it – do not give an answer to the question. tell the press you do not have the facts and that you will get back to them on it. every PR practitioner should know that. it is even taught in schools.

it is a shock that the press secretary of the president of this country forgot that very important principle in Press Conference  101. if you are the press secretary of a president of a country,  being a pro is must. this is incompetence and remonde deserves to be fired from his job.

the other element that has been made obvious is the lack of communication and coordination among the various groups in the presidential staff.

the decision to hide the breast implants was  not relayed to cerge remonde, the press secretary. keeping remonde in the dark, not giving him all the facts yanked  him from the pan into the fire.

also, remonde was obviously not consulted on the decision to hide the breast implants fact. being a press secretary, remonde would have told malacanang to hide something like that is too risky. it is too juicy a news to hide,  that something very controversial like that will eventually find its way out to media.  and that there will be a much bigger damage of malacanang is caught hiding it and lying about it.

a bigger issue for the country is the fact that someone in malacanang who is obviously high up in the ranks think telling a lie is the right thing to do. and that this person thinks they can maintain the lie and hide the truth forever, a thinking that they are above everyone else. how many lies has this person perpetuated?

we think malacanang should have done it this way – call a press briefing and tell the press the truth.

say that arroyo felt lumps on her breasts and that she was worried about them. this worry on these lumps are magnified by the fact that she had breast implants decades ago. the president will check herself in to the hospital to get the lumps and her breast implants checked by doctors. then they should simply say arroyo had breast implants in the 80s due to medical reasons and that the president prefers not to give details on the matter.

they should also say the president encourages all pinays to check their breasts for lumps and to seek medical help if needed.

doing that way removes the spectacle and the controversy. it also makes arroyo very human. asking women to have their breasts checked by doctors also puts her in a very good light among women.

lesson number 1 here : DO NOT TELL A LIE.

Dibdibin natin ang usapan – does arroyo have breast implants or did she have breast augmentation?

it is a serious question and the answer to which seem to have been lost – did arroyo have breast implants or did she have breast agumentation? in my mind there is a difference – having breast implants may be for medical reasons while breast augmentation is for kalandian vanity.

now, hold on – it might be hard for all of us to accept that a woman such as gloria macapagal arroyo may want bigger breasts or for vanity. i think i speak for most of us when we can’t imagine arroyo getting them so that she can proudly wear bigger bras and deeper necklines. in most of the pictures that we have seen her in, all we see is her face, the neck down is properly covered.

i don’t know about you, but these were my reactions when i read the news that president arroyo had breast implants:

• breast implants  for gloria who?
• what breast implants? where? are you sure?
• hmm…. getting some horizontal extensions to compensate for vertical shortcomings
• is mike arroyo happy?
• is that why there is a bounce in her stride?
• who was the lucky doctor who made them?
• my eyes!!!!!!
• i shall never look at a GMA picture the same way i used to

AP photo. double click photo to view source

click the picture for source and read post

the lessons arroyo’s breast implants taught us – cerge remonde looks at arroyo’s breasts

i don’t know if these can pass for life lessons, but these certainly pass for lessons that need to be learned specially by spokespersons of people in power.

lesson 1: when reporters ask you if your boss has breast implants, make sure you use the most politically correct language. 

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde:

“As I said, res ipsa loquitur (the matter speaks for itself). Just look if the President had a breast implant. That’s a private matter. It’s obvious if women have had breast implants. The sexy actresses with (unbelievable) boobs, they’re the ones who underwent breast implants. We can’t say the same thing of the President,” he said.

the use of legal terms in latin is not the politically incorrect statement made here by remonde. neither did it’s use help save the day for remonde.

in that statement, remonde admits looking at arroyo’s breasts.

we know he  has looked at them as he was able to compare arroyo’s boobs versus those of sexy actresses. in fact he finds arroyo’s boobs not as big as those of sexy actresses. the small size of arroyo’s breasts enabled him to conclude arroyo do not have breast implants.

remonde’s knowledge of whether arroyo has or do not have breast implants is NOT based on facts revealed by arroyo or any medical report that he has read.  according to him, it is based on his own personal VISUAL sightings.

while having breast implants may be a private matter as remonde said, arroyo’s breasts don’t seem to be something private since he looks at them. according to him,  to his eyes  it is not obvious that arroyo had breast implants. and they don’t look unbelievable.

the sexy actresses and all women should ask remonde what is his problem with women getting breast augmentation.

also, knowing that sexy actresses have breast implants betray that remonde has looked at the breasts of sexy actresses, too. that is obvious as he was able to have a point of comparison.

next question is how did he look at them? in person? tv? or does he subscribe to FHM and Maxim? does his wife now this?

the example above shows the importance of ALWAYS making politically correct statements. 

remonde  got himself into politically incorrect statement hell when he needed to take back his words later in the day. making all those raunchy references to sexy actresses’  boobs also did not sit well either.

was he even aware that in the process  of defending arroyo, he admitted he looks  at arroyo’s breasts? that is  not a good thing to do when the breasts you look at are your boss’ breasts and the boss is actually the president of the country.  now, the whole country knows where remonde’s eyes go to when he talks to arroyo. and we won’t be surprised his wife now also know. what has  mike arroyo got to say about remonde?