One crucial job of a PR officer is to gloss over the flaws of the person or institution whom she is working for. That is why I am not surprised and I don't mind Margaux Salcedo, erstwhile GMA TV reporter and now Spokesperson of Erap, saying that her boss, not Jojo Binay, is the Obama of the Philippines.
"This may sound biased, but if there is anybody who we can call Barack Obama of the Philippines, it would [be] former President Estrada,” Salcedo was quoted by Inquirer as saying.
“It was really President Estrada who inspired the people,” Salcedo said. “As President Obama is inspiring America, [so did] President Estrada inspire the Filipino people in 1998.”
Salcedo came close to making herself a laughingstock. Good that her boss rescued her when Erap backflipped. If there are any similarities between him and Obama, Erap said, it is that both of them have "charisma" and "star power."
But the constrast, which Erap failed to mention, is that he, unlike Obama, used his charisma and star power to dupe his people, so that he would be catapulted to the highest position of the land, and thus advance with ease his and his cronies' narrow interests.
Estrada did not inspire the Filipino people, either. The gullible Filipino people were led to believe that voting for Estrada would be the first step towards progress, which has eluded the Filipinos for many years. The trick worked. But when it was testing time, Estrada failed miserably.
Erap as the Obama of the Philippines? Pag sure oie!
Excited to hear his take, I told my less politically inclined father about Margaux Salcedo's comment when I arrived home.
"Ha?" my father asked. "Si Erap Obama of the Philippines? Wala siya kuyapi? Kabulok niya."
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