President's protocol

To each his own, as they say. This much sums up what President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III can do in accordance with his wishes on where to hold his inaugural activities. From the latest words at Times St. where he is currently holding fort in their family residence in Quezon City, Aquino announced he plans to have his oath-taking rites in the Quirino grandstand at the Rizal Park. From there, the newly sworn in President would proceed to the Quezon Memorial Circle for his inaugural address.

Aquino chose the Quezon Memorial Circle as the venue for his inaugural address for obvious reasons. The place was memorable for him because it was here where he and his Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential running mate Sen. Mar Roxas II and their 12-man Senate ticket made their final stand in a miting de avance on the eve of election day on May 10.

His late mother, former President Corazon Aquino did not have the luxury of formal oath-taking and inaugural address. She took her oath of office before the late Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee at the Club Filipino in San Juan at the end of the EDSA People Power Revolution in February 1986.

It was only former President Fidel V. Ramos who brought back the traditional oath-taking and inaugural address all held at the Quirino grandstand on June 30, 1992. The late President Aquino stood behind Ramos who was her “anointed” presidential successor.

It was former President Joseph Estrada who first broke the tradition when he opted to hold his oath-taking rites at the historic Barasoain Church in Bulacan. Insisting he does not believe in unlucky number because he was the 13th President, Estrada explained that his choice of Barasoain Church was meant to give honor to the birthplace of our country’s First Republic.   

At the church ground, Estrada boarded the Presidential chopper with ex-President Ramos on a flight back to Manila for his inaugural address in the afternoon at the Quirino grandstand. It was there where Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo joined them for the rites. 

When she first took over the government from Estrada at the end of the EDSA-2 on Jan. 20, 2001, President Arroyo took her oath before SC Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. at the People Power Shrine in EDSA. She delivered her inaugural address the next day at the Kalayaan grounds in Malacanang Palace.

So when she finally got a mandate in the May 2004 Presidential elections, Mrs. Arroyo observed her own protocol. She did her first inaugural address in the morning at the Quirino grandstand and then she flew for her noon oath-taking rites in Cebu. This was meant to highlight the importance of the province where she posted the one million winning margin over the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. who was her closest rival in the Presidential race.  

Now in the thick of preparations for his own inaugural activities, the incoming President is obviously trying to keep the ceremonies within his simple taste. The bachelor President-elect told reporters staking out at his Times St. residence that he has been practising for the street dancing for the “people celebration” that would follow his inaugural program at the Quezon Memorial Circle. He disclosed his Transition team still has to confirm the protocol and tradition involved in inauguration rites.

Aquino need not worry much about traditions and protocols. Obviously, traditions considered sacred in the past have been set aside to adapt to modern ways of the sitting Chief Executive.

As for protocols, a Chief Executive who is not used to rigid procedures, more often than not, ignores them for more spontaneity. Thus, the President’s protocol becomes the protocol.   

Having covered four Presidents of the country while pounding the Malacanang beat for almost two decades, I have witnessed many incidents at the Palace where the President’s activities that broke protocol made good copy for the next day’s front page story, most of them anyway.

The late President Aquino was known for her being always on the dot on all her official engagements in and out of the Palace. Her erstwhile appointments secretary Margie Juico made sure she did come and leave on time on each and every engagement she attended.

Unfortunately, her virtue of punctuality was not something handed down to her successors. When Estrada walked in fashionably late — as usual — in one Palace gathering, he charmed his way out by wisecracking to his audience: “The President never comes late. The guests just came too early.”

Speaking at his inaugural, Estrada revealed while he had yet to assume office, that members of his family were already approached and “swamped with offers of funny deals.” But he stopped short of saying who these people were and instead he made his famous: “Walang kaibigan, walang kumpare, walang kamag-anak o anak na maaaring magsamantala sa ngayon… Huwag ninyo akong subukan.”

Those famous words came back to haunt him. He failed in his own challenge and the rest is history, so to speak. This early, the incoming President is also haunted by the ghosts past of his late mother’s administration on her so-called “Kamag-anak Inc.” The term was used to refer to the Aquino and Cojuangco relatives in and out of government during the administration of the late President who reportedly entered into juicy transactions with state agencies, among other alleged irregularities.

Pressed by these persistent talks on the return of “Kamag-anak Inc.” that hounded him during the last presidential campaign, Aquino kept his cool with a curt reply the other day. He was queried anew on how this issue would come into play with his ongoing search for Cabinet members and new officials he would appoint in government.

As far as he is concerned, Aquino icily retorted this is already a “non-issue.” He specifically pointed to the provision in our country’s 1987 Constitution that prohibits “nepotism” or appointment of relatives in government offices. The same Constitution, though, clothed the Chief Executive with Presidential prerogatives to appoint people who have his trust and confidence. That’s why his late mother had their eldest sister, Balsy Cruz as executive assistant during her term.

Presidential prerogative is thus synonymous with the President’s protocol.