Ready or Not: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and Her Crisis Response Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using Situational Crisis Communication Theory(SCCT)by Coombs(2007),this study analyses the case of Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte’s CoViD-19 Crisis and her crisis response strategy to address the situation.The study looks at the crisis communication of Quezon City on issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.The SCCT provides a framework for the organization facing a different complex case of crisis to protect the reputational organization’s assets.The organization’s ability to select the most appropriate and beneficial response helps them deal with an emergency and crisis(Coombs,2007).Simultaneously,in this paper,SCCT was used to examine the stakeholder’s perceptions about the organization’s action and response by Mayor Belmonte on the crisis.This paper concludes Mayor Belmonte did not follow the recommendations of SCCT by combining Deny,such as Attacks the Accuser,Deny and Scapegoat tactics,and Diminish strategies such as Excuse and Justice tactics,to respond to the wide variety of stakeholder’s groups.Mayor Belmonte’s crisis response strategies and tactics do not align with the SCCT.The theory recommends corrective action and response such as Rebuild as well as Bolstering strategies are“considered as the most effective communication of crisis response strategy when an organization perceived a strong attribution of crisis responsibility and results in a severe reputational threat”(Coombs,2007).By reviewing the situation that Mayor Belmonte faced,this paper concludes that she was under severe threat.Mayor Belmonte’s CoViD-19 crisis is the preventable cluster based on the overall stakeholder’s perception of the crisis.The preventable cluster considered her primary,secondary,and additional stakeholders.It depicted an organizational misdeed with and without injuries,and the appropriate responses to adapt to re-establish the organization’s reputation is a Rebuild strategy because interventions such as Compensation and Apology should work to improve the organization’s reputation.Conversely,Mayor Belmonte chose to frequently employ Deny strategy(Attacks the Accuser and Scapegoat)and Diminish strategy(Excuse and Justice)to respond to various stakeholders.

Can Local Governments Buy Truth From the Public?

In line with China’s shift toward developing a more harmonious society, local governments are working hard to pay greater attention to the needs of the people. Recently,