{"id":175656,"date":"2018-08-08T03:58:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T07:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=175656"},"modified":"2018-08-08T03:58:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T07:58:22","slug":"palace-bats-transform-interest-federalism-amid-viral-jingle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/08\/palace-bats-transform-interest-federalism-amid-viral-jingle\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace bats to transform interest on federalism amid viral \u2018jingle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said although the Palace did not agree with Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson\u2019s way of promoting federalism, it should be seen as an opportunity to start discussions on the true meaning of this new system of government. (TOTO LOZANO\/PRESIDENTIAL FILE PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang said it is taking the controversial dance video on federalism as a challenge to \u201ctransform\u201d new interest on federalism into explaining how this proposed system of government will benefit Filipinos.<\/p>\n

In a Palace briefing on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said although the Palace did not agree with Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson\u2019s way of promoting federalism, it should be seen as an opportunity to start discussions on the true meaning of this new system of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cBagama\u2019t hindi kami sang-ayon doon sa pamamaraan, eh talagang naging kontrobersiyal ngayon ang pederalismo<\/em>\u00a0(Although we do not agree with the method, federalism has really become controversial),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay kontrobersiya kasi; so habang may kontrobersiya, pinag-uusapan. So magkaroon na tayo ng mga diskusyon kung ano talaga iyong pederalismo<\/em>\u00a0(There\u2019s controversy, so while there\u2019s controversy, it\u2019s being talked about. So we\u2019ll have a discussion about what federalism really is),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque said there was always an opportunity to translate controversy into \u201csomething positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the challenge now — How to transform this new interest on federalism spurned by this controversy in explaining why we want this change to the Constitution towards federalism,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to make the most out of the controversy and explain the positive side of federalism \u2013\u00a0eh naririyan na iyan eh. Hindi mo naman mababalik ang panahon \u2018no para burahin iyan<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s already there. We can\u2019t turn back time and erase what happened),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, encouraged federalism advocates to take advantage of all the talks on federalism to educate those who knew little about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s try to use it to our favor, and just explain now what the controversy is and what true federalism is.\u00a0Gamitin ninyo na po itong pagkakataon na lahat ay nagtatanong tungkol dito sa pederalismo at i-explain kung ano ito<\/em>\u00a0(Use this as an opportunity to explain federalism to those asking about it),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Last week, Uson posted a video on her personal blog showing Drew Olivar, her co-host in Good News Game Show, singing and dancing while making vulgar gestures to raise federalism awareness.<\/p>\n

The song and dance number was criticized by netizens, lawmakers, and even members of the Consultative Committee (ConCom), who found it \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said he understood that Uson had \u201cthe best intentions\u201d in posting the dance jingle but stressed that explaining federalism should take a more serious approach.<\/p>\n

Unconventional video<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, bared that President Rodrigo R. Duterte has seen Uson\u2019s video since it was shown to him. However, the President did not give any instruction on what to do about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala naman po siyang binigay na<\/em>\u00a0(He didn\u2019t give any) instruction, (and) the President was very cool about it,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

According to Roque, although Uson\u2019s video was not a big deal for Duterte, he also wanted federalism to be explained in a \u201cserious\u201d manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a first and foremost a believer in freedom of expression. But of course he knows that charter change has to be more serious but to him it was not really a big thing. He would want a more rational approach to the dissemination,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte also found the video \u201cunconventional\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Duterte) found it…well unconventional to get the people\u2019s interest into federalism. In a way, I guess, everyone\u2019s talking (about) federalism,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not in the way that we want them to talk about federalism but certainly we\u2019re sure that the number of people who don\u2019t know what federalism has gone down. Let\u2019s just transform the debate now into something more substantive,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mocha\u2019s blog<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque said he will leave it to PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar to determine what steps to take in relation to Uson\u2019s video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not her superior in government and I come from a completely different department from her. So I leave it to her and I leave it to her boss–Secretary Martin Andanar,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

He also reiterated that Uson\u2019s video was not part of her \u201cofficial function\u201d as PCOO Assistant Secretary since she was not authorized to release the video in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was not actually performing her official functions. Because as Secretary Andanar clarified, she was not authorized to do that video on behalf of the inter-agency committee on dissemination for the proposed charter change,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

The inter-agency task force on federalism is composed of members of the PCOO, Department of Interior and Local Government, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Consultative Committee (ConCom) which drafted the Federal Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo she was doing it in her personal capacity. You can\u2019t stop her,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that there has yet to be a final communication plan on the federalism information drive being prepared by the inter-agency task force formed by Duterte.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala pa pong final plans, kaya nga po nagulat kami na may ganitong nangyari (There are no final plans, that\u2019s why we were shocked that something like this happened),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Trainer\u2019s manual<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, he said it was clear during the inter-agency task force meetings that there would be a trainer\u2019s manual and that there would have to be minimum content to be discussed by trainers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng unang-unang gagawin po diyan<\/em>\u00a0(The first thing we will do) is the trainers\u2019 training that we had hoped that Asec. Mocha Uson will also attend \u2018no \u2013 like everyone else who wants to be a disseminator for federalism,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Andanar said the inter-agency is considering creating comics, social media cards, radio advertisements, and perhaps jingles to promote federalism awareness.<\/p>\n

Not out<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a chance interview, Andanar was mum on details about Uson\u2019s controversial video but denied that she was being kicked out of the federalism information drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi naman out. Wala akong sinasabing out, out ito, out yan\u00a0<\/em>(She\u2019s not out. I didn\u2019t say she was out, or this is out, that is out). No one is out. Any Filipino can join the Federalism campaign because this federalism is for every Filipino and it\u2019s for the entire nation,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

The PCOO chief said what he wanted was to assure that all efforts to explain federalism have approval from the inter-agency task force.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng gusto lang namin mangyari na kailangan yung inter-agency ang mag approve ng lahat ng mga lumalabas na communications or communication strategy. Dapat ang inter-agency ang mag approve<\/em>\u00a0(What we want to happen is that all communications or communication strategies get approval from the inter-agency),\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

He, however, reiterated that the final campaign has yet to be finalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the campaign is concerned,\u00a0wala pang final na napagusapan kung ano ang dapat. Pero meron kaming meeting ulit sa Friday<\/em>\u00a0(we have not agreed on a final plan. But we have another meeting on Friday),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang said it is taking the controversial dance video on federalism as a challenge to \u201ctransform\u201d new interest on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":173623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}