By: Genalyn D. Kabiling
Malacañang has long been infamously regarded as a snake pit but presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. is not at all worried about the venomous battleground.
Roque said he considers himself a “boa constrictor,” one of the world’s largest snakes, to navigate and survive the snake pit in the country’s power center.
“Well, what can I say other than I’m a boa constrictor? I’m probably the biggest one,” Roque said during a press conference in Cebu City last Sunday night when asked on how intends to deal with the Palace pit of snakes.
Roque, a Kabayan party-list lawmaker and a human rights advocate, was recently designated as the new spokesman of President Duterte, replacing the calm and mild-mannered Ernesto Abella. The communicative official was expected to take his oath yesterday afternoon.
As part of his changes to his office, Roque visited Cebu City last Sunday to kick off his weekly provincial trips to grant press interviews. In Cebu, he announced plans to establish “satellite offices” in some provinces with organized press corps.
“Since I entered, the provincial media has been complaining of sort that they have not been accorded the same kind of attention as the Malacañang Press Corps,” Roque said.
“So I realized that not all media outfits have representations in the Malacañang Press Corps. And that’s why on my own initiative but approved by the President, I have decided to bring the Office of the Spokesperson to the different provinces,” he added.
