By Ma. Teresa Montemayor/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar led on Friday the launching and unveiling of Radio Television Malacañang‘s (RTVM) new logo and improvement of its facilities.
In his speech after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Andanar said the renovation of the whole building, which costs PHP11 million, is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” project in the PCOO.
Emphasizing the need of RTVM facilities “to be renovated and look presentable,” Andanar explained that it is responsible in feeding information from Malacañang the whereabouts of Duterte “so that private radio and television stations can disseminate the news to the public.”
“The last time it experienced renovation was 1987, when I got here in June 30, 2016, parang hindi siya radio television ng Malacañang kasi sobrang luma na, number one, luma ang carpet, may carpet mites, may amoy na at daga (it doesn’t look like a radio television of Malacanang because it’s too old, number one, the carpet is old, it smells and there are rats) and unidentified crawling objects,” he said.
RTVM’s improvements included the creation of a radio booth, upgrade of the radio studio in Kalayaan Hall, and renovation of the press briefing room and its entire building.
“This is the legacy of President Duterte, not mine, and our next project would be the press room in Malacañang, and may plano na iyan at ipinakita na sa akin ni (it already has a plan and it was already shown to me by) Undersecretary George Apacible. There are many more projects to come in fact, and, we’ll invite you in the unveiling of the Mindanao Media Hub which is almost 95 percent,” he said.
After the launch of Mindanao Media Hub in Davao in July, Andanar said they will work on the Visayas Media Hub in Cebu.
“President Duterte also has a legacy project which the Government Strategic Communications Training Facility. It will be the first of its kind to train our information officers from national all the way to the local levels and it will have a state-of-the-art building and dormitory for our information officers to stay when there’s a training for information dissemination,” he added.
When asked if he’ll be leaving the PCOO to serve as a presidential adviser, Andanar said Duterte has not talked to him about being moved to another agency or department.
“It is difficult to consider something (presidential adviser position) that has not been offered to you. I initiated the move to convert it from PCCO to Office of the Press Secretary for several reasons and we resubmitted that executive order draft and we’re still waiting for the President’s signature,” he said.
RTVM was created by Executive Order 297 signed by President Corazon Aquino on July 25, 1987. It has the sole responsibility and exclusive prerogative to decide on policies regarding operational matters for the official documentation of all the President’s activities for purposes of news dissemination and video archiving.
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