[Rear View] The President needs to reclaim the narrative

A year after the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), the Marcos administration has yet to deliver economic relief to millions of ordinary Filipinos. The flood control corruption scandal has metastasized beyond the administration’s ability to contain it, and the swift justice he promised is proceeding at a glacial pace. 

These are failures in governance. And they share the blame for the widespread dissatisfaction with the President. 

In the March 2026 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), net satisfaction with the President fell to a record-low -15 (33 percent satisfied, 49 percent dissatisfied), classified by SWS as poor. That’s a 12-point collapse from the neutral -3 posted in November 2025. If there’s one word to describe the survey verdict, it’s merciless. 

But a significant portion of the blame belongs to communications strategy, or more precisely, to the near-total failure of the Marcos administration to own the narrative of its presidency. 

The President is not merely in trouble. At this point, he has lost control of the national discourse.

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The gambit

The presidency is the most powerful platform in the country for dictating headlines and shaping public opinion. In the past year, Malacañang has squandered it by raising expectations it could not meet. 

Let’s go back to where it started. Following the midterm poll debacle in 2025, the President appeared on a podcast just days after the election and admitted to shortcomings in governance. He promised a reset and asked his Cabinet to resign. That candidness was refreshing and roundly welcomed even by critics and commentators. The message was clear: from now on, his presidency will work hard to regain your trust.  

Then came his SONA in July 2025. Once again he recognized the people’s resentment (“Bigo at dismayado ang mga tao sa pamahalaan”) then pivoted to righteous indignation, shifting the public’s anger to legislators and their flood control racket. Raising his voice, he told his audience, “Mahiya naman kayo sa inyong kapwa Pilipino!” They cheered him. And for a brief shining moment, the President held the moral high ground. He had the narrative.

But the Palace was not prepared to deal with the deluge of revelations that followed the SONA. 

The flood control scandal, targeted to shame and exact accountability from a cabal of legislators and contractors, widened to implicate Palace officials, undersecretaries, executive assistants, and political allies in several government agencies. The scandal had reached Malacañang’s doorsteps. 

The Senate blue ribbon hearings, then chaired by Senator Panfilo Lacson, became the most watched political telenovela, each hearing revealing new villains, new plot twists, and cliffhangers. What was intended as a campaign to demand accountability turned into open political warfare.

And the President, the crusader and the one who started the fire, found himself increasingly reactive. The communications strategy shifted to managing the scandal and insulating the President from the fallout.  

In November 2025, the President appeared in another podcast, a more crisis-driven one focused specifically on the flood control scandal. Similar to the May podcast, it was a communications gambit driven more by political pressure rather than a proactive plan to control the narrative.

Where was he?

To be clear, the President has not been absent from the news cycle. Press releases are issued constantly. The President’s schedule had him criss-crossing the country attending groundbreaking ceremonies and announcing new programs. But the President, the one who initiated the national conversation on flood control corruption, was largely absent in any commanding sense. 

The Palace failed to project the President as a leader who is present, decisive, and clearly in charge. He cannot be the anti-corruption crusader when the scandal has swallowed his moral authority to lead. But that is what happened.

The SWS numbers are not terrible because the Palace failed to craft the right talking points. They are terrible because nearly half of Filipinos feel their lives have gotten worse. The public – across all socioeconomic classes, demographics, and regions – has turned decisively against the administration.

Public sentiment cannot be reversed with podcast appearances, press briefings, or photo opportunities. The public craves for results. And results demand a president who is visibly, forcefully, and credibly present, working not just for accountability in flood control, but for economic relief promised in 2022, the restoration of the Marcos golden years that has yet to come.

The communications team has one remaining tool of consequence: the presidency itself. Not the office, but the man and his performance. 

After all, the foundational truth in political communications is that performance is the best politics.

With three years left, the President must move to reclaim the platform. Political necessity requires it. As President, he can cut through the political noise and set the agenda. He can force the conversation on his chosen terrain. 

His administration has surrendered that advantage for the better part of a year. It’s time to reclaim it. The President must lead the narrative and define his presidency, otherwise others will define it for him and they will not be kind. – Rappler.com