Trillanes: Aquino gabsters not media to be blamed for plunging ratings

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Photo courtesy of Trillanes’ Facebook page.

MANILA — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said that if there is someone to blame for the President Aquino’s plunging ratings, it should Malacanang’s communication team and not the media.

The senator added that the sensitivity of the Mamasapano issue should have triggered the team to craft a more meticulous messaging in communicating.

“It’s their fault. They are the communications handlers of the President. They should be the ones reining him in.

If they know P-Noy is very emotional, they should stop him from speaking. Their messaging should be very deliberate. It’s a very emotional issue, highly charged,” Trillanes told reporters in an interview for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He added that President Aquino’s public statements following the incident made things worse.

“It’s more the overall strategic communications—who will say what and so on,” he said.

Trillanes also said that Aquino’s step on taking the blame for the failure of his staff aggravated the issue.

“The problem is P-Noy takes the fall for the failures of his staff,” Trillanes said.

“He’s not the one who killed them. He’s not a thief. He’s not a bad person. So in the long run, people will start asking again why they are angry at P-Noy. They won’t remember because it won’t stick. He himself did not do these things. These are just propaganda,” he said.

Despite this, Trillanes still believe that Aquino’s ratings could still recover.