It was inevitable that Cesar Chavez would quit as acting secretary at the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) but it is strange for him to announce that Jay Ruiz is replacing him, giving the impression that he has chosen his successor, which should leave a bad taste in the mouth of the appointing authority, who happens to be President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Moreover, his apologia for resigning reeks of self-praise, less of diffidence, as he didn’t measure up to the high standards set by Malacanang. It was not his failure to know the exact number of barangays when Sen. Loren Legarda asked him that did him in. It was not even the complaint of Marcos Jr. that under Chavez’s watch he had to “endure” ambush interviews by what should have been a docile Palace press gaggle. Chavez came into the PCO on a chariot after warming his heels under then PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil.
Now, he is leaving “Sturm und Drang-” style, admitting his “shortcomings” but not confessing to his errors, and recommending his replacement in the game of PCO musical chairs. Quitting just after five months at the post is not an indication of sterling performance. Nasty talk at the Palace showed that Chavez worked his way to the PCO while still an underling to Garafil. Chavez is also linked to an influential faction of PR operators and shills with suspected links to illegal gambling that continues to worm itself into the good graces of the Palace.
When Marcos Jr.’s controversial senatorial bet Erwin Tulfo unnecessarily vouched for Jay Ruiz, he gave away the ties that bind them all. Incidentally, Erwin Tulfo recently held a reunion with his former newspaper colleagues at his P75-million yacht. But then, quitting has become an art for Chavez, who also quit as undersecretary for railways under then Transport Secretary Arturo Tugade and resigned from the presidential campaign of then Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. Quitting before the storm keeps him safe and secure.
Chavez should have known beforehand that his President is allergic to ambush interviews and ad hoc press briefings and generally loathes any parley with foreign journalists like Australia’s Sarah Ferguson. Or being asked whether he recognizes Analisa Josefa Corr of Sydney, the daughter of model Evelin Hegyesi, as his half-sister or not. Corr was banned from drinking aboard flights after figuring in an altercation with a passenger. The Corr issue just wouldn’t fade away as rumors persist that Hegyesi “inherited” Marcos assets in Australia. Josefa Quetulio Edralin Marcos, Ferdinand Jr.’s grandmother, must have known Hegyesi just as she knew Carmela Ortega, whom the disappeared Primitivo Mijares (author of the “Conjugal Dictatorship”) alleged had borne four Marcos children before she mysteriously disappeared from Ferdinand Sr.’s life.
Presidents are expected to have many skeletons in their closets and certainly Marcos Jr. is no exception. As a former PCO secretary admitted, his role was not only as a gatekeeper but also a master storyteller, spinning stories to protect his boss, like fabricating an alternative truth on the assassination attempt on Imelda Marcos on Dec. 7, 1972 and claiming it was really a plot to kill Marcos Sr. Burnishing the image of Marcos Jr. also requires denying claims that the young Marcos already knew about the plot to declare martial law on June 1972 and was knew about the funding of Marcos Sr. by compradors in 1965, which belied claims that the Marcos patriarch was so wealthy he didn’t need a P20-million cash infusion for his presidential campaign.
The game of musical chairs at the PCO will continue and Ruiz, of Ilocos Norte, must already prepare for his exit even before taking the job as acting chief. He should devote 25 hours a day to protecting Marcos Jr., listen to what First Lady Liza Cacho Araneta Marcos has to say, and must not meddle with the railways. The nasty rumor at the Palace snake pit is that Chavez was glued to the railways, the light rail system and the transport sector that he was “namamangka sa dalawang ilog” (akin to Imee Marcos being on the Marcos Jr. senatorial ticket and being independent and also supported by Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio), which is taboo.
As it is, Ruiz will have an unenviable task of remaking Marcos Jr.’s image, transforming him into a leader who can energize the nation, do his utter best in stamping out graft by telling the country he has no truck with Sara’s financial shenanigans. The “no-impeachment” gimmick has found little purchase and he must go hammer and tongs against Sara. With the mountain of evidence amassed, it is foolhardy for the Palace to play coy and say it has no role in the impeachment. The truth does not only free you; it can also incarcerate others.
