Dishonest, incompetent spokesmen and how they reflect their source
Harry Roque is up to his old gobbledygook tactics again — misleading and misguided statements about the West Philippine Sea, about the pandemic, about the state of the economy… The list goes on and on. Salvador Panelo is not far behind.
Malacañang has not done much for this country except to peddle falsehoods. One can judge the integrity, sincerity, and competence of the top leadership by the quality of the people installed to be their spokesmen and publicists.
There was a time when our presidents chose only people of the highest honesty to speak for them. Which was a logical thing to do: Honest and competent spokesmen reflect honest and competent leaders. Reliable spokesmen reflect reliable leadership.
Not anymore. Dishonest and incompetent spokesmen are now chosen, the better to deflect the darkness and evil that come from the source. It is a dead giveaway of the quality and intentions of any government.
Look for any leader in the world whose spokesmen trifle so easily and so consistently with the truth, and the chances are you will find a leader who does not give a whit about what is true or not. To him and his spokesmen, the only truth that matters is the “truth” that best serves the leader’s ends.
Joseph Goebbels, chief propagandist of Adolph Hitler, is a primary example of a spokesperson who fed lies to the people that eventually led to the destruction of a country. If the Filipino nation does not learn from the experience of Germany, our country and our nation, fed by the lies of Roque et al., could disappear into the
insidious embrace of China and its drive for world expansion and control. Or be consumed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
This regime’s flagrant manipulation of the truth is such a blatant disregard of the constitutional mandate that “Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” Sovereignty can hardly be served if the true sovereign is fed nothing but a menu of falsehoods.
Lies lead to confusion, misdirection, and failure of governance. In the ultimate analysis, the spokesmen and the main man in Malacañang would have failed at their sworn duty to serve the true sovereign, the people, if they do not present the truth to the people.
In the context of governance, lies, and the sovereignty of the people are anathema to each other. I ask Roque and this government’s other spokesmen like Panelo: “Please do not do a Joseph Goebbels on the Filipino nation!”
Because, in the end, it is the truth that will prevail.
RAFAEL E. EVANGELISTA
[email protected]
