MIKE CAN’T DO RIGHT?: The misfortune of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is that most folk in this badly scarred town are liable to believe the worst said of him, without regard for whether it is true or false.

This problem boils down to a bad image. And negative perception happens to be among the most difficult public relations problems that a public figure could face.

When the topic crops up in kapihan chats, for lack of anything else to say we usually suggest in jest that his wife the President should check on a big globe what country is exactly on the other side opposite the Philippines — and appoint Mr. Arroyo permanent ambassador to that faraway land.

The bright idea is that, hopefully, his absence will take him away from the line of sight and line of fire.

* * *

WILL DIVORCE WORK?: A variation of that exile of sorts cropped up last Monday when Mrs. Arroyo named him special ambassador to Overseas Filipino Workers. But even that move that will send poor Mike packing for foreign climes came under fire from the opposition.

The usual critics are saying that Mr. Arroyo was being sent to campaign among OFWs. To his and his wife’s political foes, nothing is ever right with Mr. Arroyo. They know that they can hit the President with political shrapnel by firing at people close to her.

We dare speculate that even if Gloria divorces Mike before 2004, that extreme measure to cast him away would still draw enemy fire. Nothing is ever right to them.

But while they seem to be enjoying bashing the First Gentleman and seeing his wife lose her temper, the opposition might just reach a point where further attacks on him will cease to register in the public mind.

* * *

GLORIA OVEREXPOSED: Another case of a media campaign overshooting the point of saturation is the too-frequent appearance of President Arroyo on TV with some mundane message or something.

Somebody better inform the President that many viewers now turn off their TV sets or move to other channels whenever she appears on the screen with one of those many canned spiels of her.

Those TV broadcasts, pieced together at great cost to taxpayers (and at great profit for the producers), are useless if nobody pays attention to them. The handlers of the President would do well to pull them out immediately.

The President should appear on TV to rouse up the nation only when there is something really of grave importance. Too frequent and prolonged TV appearances trivialize the presidency, create resistance, and waste resources, time and goodwill.

This is much like the propensity of some tabloidish editors to use an exclamation point to punctuate their main headline. The idea is to jolt and grab the reader. But when the exclamation point is used too often in news headlines, it loses its impact.

* * *

NOBODY READS THEM: The same is true with those ubiquitous “messages” of the President (and other officials) decorating newspaper supplements of organizations and businesses marking their anniversaries or some forgettable occasion.

The President may not even be aware of her supposed messages — complete with her picture, signature and presidential seal — plastered on newspaper supplements. And then, nobody reads the text except the paper’s proofreader.

The truth is that these messages are composed only by a Malacanang clerk or are fed to the Press Office by the sponsoring organizations without the president ever seeing them. If the organizations buying newspaper space would dispense with those useless messages, they could free up space for more substantial press materials and render distinct public service.

* * *

HOUSE ARREST FOR ERAP: As we said earlier in Postscript (28Nov02), there is no harm, and in fact there is some good, in allowing house arrest for former President Erap Estrada during the Yuletide, which is after all the season of love and goodwill.

We had mentioned in passing that former Sen. Ninoy Aquino himself was once granted Christmas furlough by the dictator before the opposition leader was eventually allowed to go to the United States for heart surgery.

We noticed then that when Ninoy was allowed to go home to Times St. in Quezon City, he was allowed (or told?) to bring along all his things crammed into his maximum security cell at Fort Bonifacio.

Remember that Ninoy at that time already had a death sentence (by musketry) imposed on him by a Marcos military commission. In contrast, Erap is still being tried and is presumed innocent.

We are not talking of bail, which is out of the question at this point. We are just talking of house arrest, which is simply a variation of detention.

* * *

BARGAIN SUGGESTED: Malacanang and the Sandiganbayan need not worry that Erap would escape. He would not be that foolish to resort to flight and thereby destroy his case. That imagined fear of his escaping is, we think, baseless.

President Arroyo will even earn points from oppositionist sectors if she shows some Christian understanding. (Technically, it is not for the President but for the judiciary to rule on any petition for house arrest, but the lines separating the three branches of government in this country are a bit blurred.)

One dilemma for Erap is that in one of his tantrums, he had declared that he did not recognize the court (also reminiscent of Ninoy’s refusing to recognize the military commission trying him). How can Erap now plead for house arrest before a body whose jurisdiction and authority he does not recognize?

An interesting bargain suggests itself: Erap will declare that he recognizes the court and the court will grant his petition for house arrest. Just for the Christmas season or a longer period? Once there is agreement in principle, the details can be worked out.

(Our barber says there might be a little problem that does not concern the court but Erap. If placed under house arrest, meaning at the San Juan residence where his wife Senadora Loi reigns, how will he manage the in-and-out movement of his other, huh, visitors? We assured our barber that Erap can solve this minor traffic problem.)

* * *

AUSTRALIA CONFUSED: It seems Australian Prime Minister John Howard has also been somewhat affected by the 9-11 scare tactics of US President George W. Bush and the terrorist bombing in Bali, Indonesia, that had claimed several Aussie lives.

But an unsettled mind is no excuse for his foisting on Asian neighbors his primal fears and claiming for his country the option to attack perceived terrorist groups camping within the sovereign territory of her neighbors.

Howard is confused — like his country is confused. For instance, while they claim to have abandoned their White Supremacy policy, their actual dealings with Asians smack of racial prejudice.

And while they claim to be of Asia, they do not really know if they are Asians. Hence their confusion and disdain for their Asian neighbors.

* * *

FOREIGN OFFICE BYPASSED: Australian diplomats have been trying to pass on to the Philippine National Police the same fear exhibited by Howard. They regale our police with tales of local terrorists about to attack their embassy, and in one childish moment (bumigay ba?) decided to close their consular offices.

Why should Australian diplomats run to the police or to the AFP intelligence service? That’s not the way to do it. A foreign embassy deals only with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Our foreign office then involves other agencies if it deems it necessary.

When Filipino diplomats are in Australia, they also follow this protocol of dealing officially only with the host country’s foreign ministry. That’s the way it is done all over the civilized world.

Even if the ambassador of a foreign power happens to know the President personally, the diplomat never goes directly to Malacanang but properly courses all communications through the foreign office.

If they prefer to deal with kung sinu-sino, they should not complain when they do not get the attention or action they want.