BY JOVE!

Based on eye witness reports, here are the highlights of the incident:

PGMA arrives at the NEB and saw the briefing room empty and her staff not yet ready. She occupied a seat in front, frowned and asked about the absence of the teleprompter. Hen she got a negative reply, she stood up and stormed out of the room. Then her voice was heard screaming from the corridor. Her aides and the RTVM staff were running in and out of the room. The reporters and cameramen were already outside, doing their job. The sound of falling objects was heard. PGMA then, emerged from the corridor connecting the NEB and the Premier Guest House. She bumped into some mediamen, specifically PDI’s Lyn RIllon. She told her not to take her photo. What a paparazzi moment, huh Lyn? By this time, the RTVM and the other staffers of the President were already in a state of panic. Pakibilisan sabi ng aide. Ilang minutes ang set up? Tanong ng aide. Sabihan nyo kami para ma-feedback namin (kay PGMA)! 15 minutes? 1-5? Oo. Panic pa rin RTVM. The briefing room was still not ready for the President’s statement. The presidential seal wasn’t hooked on the wall even. RTVM people were trying to move fast. Other members of the media start to arrive. Usec. Jose Capadacia made an appearance and asked “Ilang minutes pa ba?” 5mins! The staff readied PGMA’s seat by placing a throw pillow on it. Then, PGMA enters the briefing room for the 2nd time. She talks to her officials. Then she sat down again. A member of the media, who, wanted to “cool down” PGMA’s mood, gave her a “sweet gretting”, PGMA then exclaimed, with hand gestures: “Theres no presscon just a taping!” Then she asked again, “Where’s the studio prompter? Walang makasagot. Tayo uli si PGMA. Then storms out of the room again. More questions: Where is it now? Who is setting it up? Mga tanong iyan ni PGMA habang nilibot ang area. She even went to the control room. Nanita. Sumimangot. Pumamewang. I am sorry, mejo unpresidential ang terms na gamit ko, pero iyan ang nakita ko eh. Then she left the area again. The staff and the RTVM took the opportunity to finish preparing. Another 5 -10 mins. Ms. Lupita Kashiwahara enters and reminded the media, the president’s just taping a message, so there will be no questions because it is not a presscon. The presidential seal (na sabi ng isang miron, mukhang dart board) was placed where it should be, the microphone was also checked. For the 3rd time PGMA re-enters the room, teary eyed, perspiring, and still angry. She reads the statement then left the room.

(That was a long annotation, huh? Why not watch how the cameras captured the moment na lang? Watch it here…)

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PRESIDENT ARROYO’S OUTBURST AT THE NEB (grabbed from TV5 footage covered and taken by the news team of JF, Armand Lapitan and Luther Suarez) Blood Diamond movie

I’ve been covering PGMA as President since 2001, and I even covered her while she was still a senator and DSWD secretary.

I’ve seen her so called “mataray ways”.

(One recent incident happened during her US working visit last July. She was having lunch with the members of the media delegation, and during the chitchat, she expressed her “tampo” sa media, because she believes the media never grew tired of painting her as “mataray”. One feisty —sassy and yes, friendly, lady broadcast journalist then gave this one liner: “but being mataray isn’t always and shouldn’t be a bad thing.” (or something to that effect) PGMA just stared at her. Lahat kami agree sa sinabi ni feisty reporter. Bakit mamasamain ang isang bagay na pwedeng strong quality di ba? One co-reporter whispered, “sus, eh as if naman ang katarayan ang solong dahilan kung bakit siya disliked and not trusted based on surveys?”. O, o, don’t shoot the messenger please! Na-alala ko lang mga nadinig ko.)

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Going back to, “I’ve seen her mataray ways…”

She’s naturally stern and “mataray” and I believe she’s been using this trait so that she’ll get things running and will make her officials more responsible and quick moving. Sabi nga nung sassy reporter di ba, being mataray isn’t really a bad thing.

But seeing her actions this noon.

The outburst?

The overflow of emotions?

I couldn’t help but compare it with past incidents.

Before, her taray ways surfaced for a reason, for an aim.

Today?

What happened, sadly, showed that she wasn’t able to control her emotions.

Sure, the outburst was borne out of frustration because of the inefficiency of her staff. (Pareho lang kapag pinapagalitan ang mga opisyales niya nuon di ba?)

BUT, it can’t be denied that this time, she looked like she was whining.

She knew that the media was there to see and cover the whole thing, but she continued with the histrionics. The drama escalated, it didn’t taper down.

She didn’t appear like she was in control.

I can even dare say that she appeared like she’s gone ROCK BOTTOM. (Just look at her resigned but angry look when she finally emerged to deliver her statement.)

And that is quite telling.

(remember all the stress and pressure in the past few weeks regarding the MOA-AD, CHACHA, the Mindanao situation, the bum stomach, the deluge of foreign visitors, the declarations of El Shadai and the CBCP over the weekend, her supposed check-up for stress tests before her appearance at the Ninoy event today….etc.) Queen of Outer Space

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Video grab of my news report for TEN The Evening News at TV5 (10:30-11:00PM M-F)

REPORTER’S POV

After witnessing the angry quest for a (tele-) prompter right before my eyes and reliving the extended outburst of presidential emotion several times while producing my report for TEN The Evening News of TV5, I must make mention some people who got involved and the things I realized about some of my colleagues during incidents like this.

-That the Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM) group, despite today’s incident, is truly one professional arm of the Office of the President. Besides, this is just one slip up (more of delay!), compared to all the hard work of the men and women of RTVM to cover the President’s daily activities, comprehensively. (Kung sana lang kaunti ang nakiki-alam sa inyo eh no? Mas efficient siguro and smooth sailing.)

-That radio people will give their “matapang na” blow by blow report even if the subject is just a few inches away from them.

-That a lot of cameramen, despite all the effort of the Presidential Security Group to have them stop rolling their cameras and stop covering, never forgo the fact that they are answerable to their viewers and that they should be able to continue covering despite the obstacles because at the end of the day, the news should be delivered to the viewing public.

-That photographers, male or female are really brave and talented enough to face the president and continue working despite her warning “huwag mo ako kunan ng litrato!” (I swear ang tapang tapang ni Lyn Rillon, she was too close to where PGMA was and she just continued clicking her camera!)

-And how palace reporters already mastered the difficult art of covering a president like Mrs. Arroyo.

I am sure we will all get a lot of flak for reporting about President Arroyo’s noon time outburst inside the halls of the New Executive Building.

But before anyone from (or outside) the palace starts to turn the table on us and make the reporters covering the presidential beat appear like irresponsible and sensationalism loving journalists… (I know, that’s the easiest way to make us look bad) …it is wise that you review all the radio reports that aired live as the incident happened, the TV reports that aired during prime time and the stories that appeared in newspapers.

Oh yeah, I know that the likes of former Secretary of the Cabinet Ric Saludo is no longer a palace staple. BUT, it is really easy to predict that journalists will likely or somehow get some flak about this issue. Just watch the whole incident in the clip that’s embedded here and you will see how convenient it can be for some to pin the blame on our sector.

Yes, we did report about the “outburst”, but we didn’t forget about the real issue: the MILF’s atrocities. The TV reports I saw in almost all the networks even carried two PGMA soundbytes each and the results of the emergency National Security Council meeting.

And I must say, our decision to use the footage of the angry president is justifiable, because it is news. Debatable? No. As a story it has in fact lots of layers in it. An unpopular and less than trustworthy president, waging a battle for her political survival, who by the way got sick before the weekend, was incognito during most of last week, was hit by criticisms regarding charter change and was shaken by the twin “pambabara” or non support from the leadership of the El Shaddai group and the Catholic church on her aim to amend the constitution. Plus the fact that she’s not feeling well until now, because as PDI reported, she visited 32 hospitals before being active again.

Lastly, we are not being arrogant and we are not saying we have all the right to cover everything and anything under the sun, but what happened inside the halls of the NEB, happened right before our eyes and we can’t just close our eyes and pretend it didn’t happen.

Because it did.