Gossip Galore in President Benigno S. Aquino’s Chicago Visit

By: Veronica Leighton

So many quips, jokes, criticisms, remarks, nuances, and serious attacks have been heard from all corners of Chicago on President Aquino’s visit last May 6th. There was excitement and gossips galore, and just so enjoyable hearing them all with my still two functional ears. Wonder why, I think it’s because Chicago seems to be the least visited city by the Philippine presidents compared to metropolitan cities like New York, San Francisco & LA.

Just wondering if any sitting Philippine presidents look at Chicago as a jinx city to visit, as historically looking back, President Erap Estrada was jailed a month after his Chicago visit, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also had the same fate placed in a hospital arrest for years now, after visiting Chicago; and there’s rumor in Manila gossip circles these days that Aquino could be next if he doesn’t play his cards right in making sure that his Liberal Party has the upper hand in the upcoming 2016 PH election. As many of them say, his matuwid na daan actually has many lubak-lubak.

Let me share with you some of the funny lines I heard so far…”His name BENIGNO S. AQUINO stands for (B.S.–and it’s even far from Benigno Simeon Aquino) & why not Cojuangco (his Mom’s maiden name)?…why did he have to speak in very deep Tagalog words (not even Tag-lish –Tagalog English) when there are so many non-speaking Tagalog present, like the American & Asian guests and dignitaries, the Fil-Ams, and non-Tagalog speaking Pinoys who hailed from the provinces of Visayas, and other ethnic regions of the Philippines, marunong ba siyang mag-inglis…he should not have treated us as his bossing masa from the Philippines because we are mostly professionals who have been speaking English all along…why didn’t his speechwriter think of displaying an English translation on the screen)?… No wonder he was unsuccessful in getting investors from Chicago (the main purpose of his side trip)…what he brought home from Chicago was just a resolution citation from Mayor Emanuel from his courtesy call and a sports shirt jersey… why is he still single, totoo bang….? That non-smiling (always nakasimangot) Vice Consul Alena Borra must be recalled fast from her Chicago consular duty…nakita mo ba siyang mag-smile man lang kahit minsan? Etc., etc.

To clarify matters, I opted on sending Consul General Calonge a set of questions to get answers from the horse’s mouth and to satisfy our readers’ queries and curiosities…

VT: Why was the international protocol for flag displays of U.S. & Philippines not observed during President Aquino’s meeting with the community leaders of Chicago?

CG: In contrast with a State or Official Visit where the visiting Head of State or Government is hosted by his/her counterpart in the receiving state or government (e.g., in the case of President Aquino’s State Visit to Canada), the President was hosting the event alone, without a US counterpart, so only the Philippine flag was present. US officials, as well as Filipino-Americans, at the event were his guests and formed part of the audience. (VT: Sounds weird, but I guess this goes along with the singing of the national anthems).

VT: Why was the local media (Filipinos & Foreign) banned to cover his visit. As what Ms. Liezel Alcantara told me on the phone, “It’s because they are bringing in their own press people …”Something is wrong with this scenario, don’t you think?

CG: The local media was never banned. Events that the President attended were open to the media (local and foreign) up to a certain extent. As such, the local media were able to cover the courtesy call of Mayor Emanuel and the business meeting at TransUnion. With regard to the FilCom event, there were accredited media present as well. Media practitioners could secure accreditation, and those who approached the person in charge from the official delegation for accreditation were allowed to cover parts of the visit. And as expected, official photographers and videographers under Radio-Television Malacanang (RTVM) and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) would always be on hand to document the President’s activities.

(VT: The Philippine Consulate did not express this mandate very well to the local Chicago media, FYI).

VT: How come the rule was, “No Q&As from the audience”?

CG: The meeting with the Filipino community was quite limited and only an hour (7:00-8:00 pm) has been allotted for this, which includes the President’s speech and photo session of the President with more than 500 guests, given the short schedule of the President’s working visit. (VT: At least a halfhour Q&A could have been allotted from the audience which could have been easily handled by the PCG, as guests present were longing to be updated on the current affairs of the Philippines, hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth).

VT: The 1st memo from the Consulate says, “No food will be served, so have dinner before or after the event…” Then, there was overflowing food after the event outside the ballroom (which we enjoyed but confused many of us). Who dictated these rules?

CG: The actual memo (copy attached) states that “The evening’s event will not include a dinner.” This meant that it will not be a sitdown dinner/meeting, hence there were no dinner tables set-up and no dinner was served during the meeting. Also, it was made clear in that memo that “these may be subject to change,” and, after that first memo was sent, we later received instructions from Malacanang prior to the event that food was eventually to be served. (VT: Yummy hors d’ouvres though, thank you).

VT: Pinoy’s speech delivery in 98% tagalog was not fair to the Americans & Fil-Ams present. Don’t you think it was discourteous on his part?

CG: During our preliminary meeting with FilCom leaders on Friday, April 24, at the Consulate’s Kalayaan Hall, we have notified those present that the President would be delivering his speech in Tagalog. The President himself opened his speech by saying, “I would like to apologize to our American friends; it is my custom to talk to my countrymen in our native tongue,” In conveying his message to his kababayans, he emphasized the importance of taking care not to have anything lost in translation. The English translation of his speech, after being checked against actual delivery, was then made available to US officials and Filipinos Americans last Friday (VT: But not during his personal speech delivery (Wednesday, May 6th), where he made both Tagalog and non-Tagalog speaking audience feeling very uncomfortable. Someone given the translation task from his entourage must be fired for not doing his/her job).

VT: The so-called Chicago “working visit” was a big waste of PH taxpayers’ money for hotel accommodations, parking fees & fuels for chartered Philippine Airlines that flew them, if he was not able to get commitments from American investors from here.

CG: The amount of goodwill and strong interest in the Philippines the President’s working visit to Chicago has gained from the Filipino diaspora, the local government and Midwestern businesses is testament of its success. It has been a while since Philippine president visited Chicago and, despite his short stay, President Aquino’s presence made a huge impact on the FilAm and business communities by assuring them and making them feel the country’s continuing support and appreciation. Thus, I would not characterize this as a “big waste of Philippine taxpayers money.” (VT: Amen, and thank you so much, ConGen.

 

President Benigno Aquino delivering his Tagalog speech by reading it from a teleprompter inside the grand ballroom of JW Marriott Hotel.

 

AnakBayan demonstrators pictured in front of the JW Marriott Hotel in downtown Chicago during President Benigno Aquino’s Chicago visit.