Hypothesizing Harry Roque

ONE interprets it as the quickest turnaround. From being hailed as a rock star for threatening to throw metaphorical hollow blocks at the President’s critics, Harry Roque in of the Duterte administration on the day he was sworn in, and this is not even coming from Duterte critics, but from Duterte supporters.

He drew the ire of the Duterte base for what was seen as his defense of mainstream media, and then being patronizing to blogger Mocha Uson, - ing to school her on the virtues of the mainstream. Harry Roque later justi establishing a common ground.

But the Duterte base, or at least that sector that is enabled by social media, wouldn’t buy his excuse. Angry during the live coverage of his press conference. And the online posts and comments were just as unforgiving.

Social media enablers of the Presi- dent, most notably Mocha Uson, Sass Rogando Sasot and RJ Nieto aka Thinking Pinoy who are the top three in the pro-Duterte social media hierarchy, almost in unison, led their millions of supporters in the condemnation. Nieto even publicly called for the resignation of Roque. Others went to the extent of appointed spokesman.

As an academic, I would rather see this as an opportunity to offer several hypotheses as a way to make sense of this sudden turn of events.

The null hypothesis is of course the more convenient explanation. Harry metaphorical foot and mouth disease. He allowed his garrulousness to take over his rationality, and spoke beyond what is comfortable. He transgressed his boundaries, and in the process provoked the diehard Duterte supporters, or DDS, to anger. And as a result, he placed the President in a

To buy this explanation, however, is to accuse Roque of stupidity, and of cluelessness. While people can disagree with Harry and his style, it is hard to believe that he is totally ignorant of the limits of his role as a spokesman. He is a lawyer and a politician. He knows the political landscape. And if he has political ambitions, as people allege, he knows that pissing off the DDS hardliners is one sure way of crash-landing his higher political ambition even before it can take off.

And he knows that whatever he does will rub off negatively on the President.

And it is at this juncture that I offer an alternative hypothesis.

One may have to entertain the possibility that Harry Roque was in fact performing a role in a deliberate story arc, and that the President may either have given him tacit approval, or if not, allowed others to direct him to pursue such a line.

I entertain this alternative hypothesis as a possible scenario for the simple reason that aside from the fact that there was no visible disapproval coming from the palace, there are events that point to the development of a particular narrative, which is that of constructive engagement with sectors adversarial to the President.

It is interesting that after appearing to be lawyering for the mainstream media to Mocha Uson and her social media followers, Roque came out with another statement, this time spe was eyeing a complete reconciliation with the Catholic Church.

And what makes it even more interesting is that all of these came on the