The confluence of interests: Malou Tiquia’s agenda

Is it conflict or confluence of interests? This is the question that pops up when you encounter Malou Tiquia.

Her latest role is host of the television talk show “Agenda” on CNN Philippines. Here she tackles issues and topics on her area of expertise which is politics. And we guess she’s just right for the job because of her extensive exposure to that world, hobnobbing with various congressmen, senators, government officials, advocates, businessmen and anybody else who has had anything to do with engaging the country’s political system.

Tiquia on TV: always an expert

Through all this Tiquia uses her political know-it-all to pontificate about the morality and propriety of politicians’ practices and politically motivated activities, like the final arbiter of what should and shouldn’t be in this politics and showbiz enamored citizenry.

What the general public doesn’t see is how Tiquia leverages this so called clout and branding to weasel funds into her own pockets, even if she herself is engaging in interests conflicting with what she claims is the true, good and beautiful.

She basically started out with publishing a book on election practices in the country, basically chronicling already established election fraud practices from the barangay to the national levels with vote buying, voter manipulation and counting fraud. While most of the information has already been published in one form or another (newspapers, magazines, academic journals), her effort to synthesize it in one handy book was well appreciated.

But she didn’t stop there. Presenting herself as the election expert she segued into political consulting. Through her firm Publicus Asia, Tiquia provides counsel and operational assistance to politicians willing to pay her fee to a (perceived) chance for an inside track to victory.

At the same time, Tiquia ventured into political lobbying. A perfect spin off since the politicians who supposedly got into positions of power and influence who she claims are her clients who benefitted from her election expertise are now familiar and willing to listen to her. So now she can reach the congressmen and senators, governors and mayors, etc etc and sway them to the side of her new clients, big business.

Through all that she cries foul over insinuations of impropriety and conflict of interest. She would say: she operates the only officially recognized and registered political lobby in the country, as if to justify her lobbying business.

Last we checked, there is no official lobby registry in the Philippines. In the United States, yes. But not the Philippines.

Let’s see: Tiquia’s part of a congressman’s or senator’s employ – or an inside consultant at least – and at the same time a lobbyist for businesses and interest groups that need the endorsement or action of these political leaders. Conflict or confluence of interests?

Tiquia also used her election-expert branding by creating election season related events and activities. In the 2010 national elections she put up an election trade fair at the World Trade Center, a one-stop market place where politicians, their funders and their minions and election suppliers met. She sold booth space to printers, apparel manufacturers, suppliers of giveaways, automated election supplier Smartmatic-TIM and even the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

Tiquia conducted seminars where her agency and certain resource persons imparted their knowledge to political wannabes. These included certain media practitioners in her roster of operators who briefed delegates on who’s who in mainstream media organization and what considerations it takes get them on your side.

As of late many of her top level clients have caught on to her racket and started keeping a decent distance from her, not renewing contracts because they have begun doubting her efficacy and the propriety of her activities. Among them are Mar Roxas, Loren Legarda, Dick Gordon and Chiz Escudero. That’s why she has moved on to other fish to fry like political neophytes and the more clueless local government officials, dazzling them with the so-called science and math behind the elections, benchmark and tracking surveys and resource deployment, all the while just using what they already have in front of them but reused and recycled with her sleight of hand.

There’s a sucker born every minute, as circus and freak show operator PT Barnum once said. And in this country, there are enough suckers who want to get into politics to keep Tiquia busy over her lifetime.

I guess, with the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region emerging politicians there will be more than willing to avail of her services in their own political exercises. Fair warning, though: They don’t take too kindly to losing elections there. A tongue lashing in social media is child’s play compared to a beheading.