By DANNY O. SAGUN

GOV. Amado Espino faced the Pangasinan media last Friday, his first press conference after taking over Urduja House. He must have felt it was time to rub elbows again with his media friends after holing himself up in his office to be seen only by people close to him and the department heads — a move that elicited negative reactions especially from journalists covering the Capitol beat.

He said had reasons to distance himself from the media for the past 100 days. A big task is put in his shoulders so that he needs no distractions but concentration in his work. The task was so enormous (to him) he had difficulty finding time for his family which he said suffered the most. He said it was the first time in his public service that he spent almost all his time for work.

The media, as is the practice when a new administration takes the reign, observed the so-called honeymoon period - no attacks or if at all, just little jabs. Lately however, “Espines” and his men became subjects of negative media reports and commentaries, some had to do with the alleged difficulty in reaching him and the absence of tangible accomplishments. He claimed some of the attacks were below the belt.

Well that’s the price of public service - he cannot simply please everybody. What is important is that he is doing his job, not just making bola.

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“Espines,” we think is closer to the media than his predecessor, now Congressman Victor Agbayani.

We cannot recall an instance Victor called a press conference during his stint at Urduja House to announce a big project or program. Even at the height of attacks against him, his family or his administration, he never asked the media to clarify matters. If the press wanted an answer, they had to content themselves with his provincial administrator or his information officer. Rarely did we hear him over radio being interviewed.

Tha late Agbayani patriarch, Aguedo, on the other hand, made himself readily accessible to media every time he was at Urduja, well, on Fridays, the callers’ day. He did not have always new things to announce but he did bear with the prodding of media for interviews on an almost regular basis. At least, the broadcast outlets had sound bites from him every week. And the print people had stories about issues affecting the province for their weeklies. Those constant exchanges between him and the media had such an impact to the public especially the electorate so that his name still reverberates up to this day.

Of course, his popularity could not all be credited to his closeness to the press. There were many other factors.

It is no secret that media can either make or unmake one, say, a politician. The present Urduja occupant therefore cannot just ignore the press in the meantime that he is, as he claims, busy with his work. He can always find time to tap their backs as he had done before in his previous stints in government service.
That shouldn’t take much of his “precious” time.