MANILA – Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Tuesday said he submitted a proposed executive order reverting back the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to the Office of Press Secretary (OPS), similar to the 1986 structure where the press secretary was also the presidential spokesperson.
“Nag-submit ako ulit ng isang EO para ibalik na ito to the 1986 Office of the Press Secretary na porma, na ibig sabihin magkasama na rin pati ang Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, isang opisina na lang pati iyong Press Secretary (I submitted again an EO to revert it (PCOO) to the 1986 Office of the Press Secretary structure, which means the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson and Office of Press Secretary will be merged under one office),” Andanar said in an interview over radio dzFM on Tuesday.
Andanar said the proposed EO is now with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
“So iyon ang gagawin natin, pag-iisahin natin ito at isinabmit ko na kay Executive Secretary iyong proposal and we are hoping na itong EO na ito ay mapirmahan na ni Presidente sa mas lalong madaling panahon, sapagkat meron nang mga pagbabago (So that’s what we will do, we will merge it and I already submitted the proposal to Executive Secretary and we are hoping that this EO will be signed by the President as soon as possible because there are already changes),” he said.
He said the OPS was created in 1986 to replace the Ministry of Information following the ouster of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Two years later, former President Corazon ‘Cory’ Aquino split the OPS and created the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson.
In 2010, Cory’s son, former President Benigno Aquino III, signed EO No. 4 reorganizing the OPS into the PCOO, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) and Office of the Presidential Spokesperson.
Duterte abolished the PCDSPO and transferred some of its functions to PCOO in 2016.
Andanar said he first submitted a proposed EO to revert PCOO to the OPS in 2016.
“Ngayon lang siya ulit nabuhay itong EO proposal na ito nang si Senate President Tito Sotto mismo ang nagpanukala na rin kay Presidente na kailangan ibalik na (It’s only now that the EO proposal has been revived when Senate President (Vicente) Tito Sotto himself proposed to President (Duterte) that it (OPS) should be revived),” Andanar said.
Duterte earlier asked former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque to lead the OPS but the latter opted to run under Luntian Pilipinas party-list in the 2019 mid-term polls.
“Being a spokesperson can be different from being a Press Secretary because you would have to head all the state information infrastructure including an actual TV station, an actual news agency and actual news bureau and I never had any experience really as a journalist,” Roque said when he attended his last Palace press briefing on Monday.
“So to me it was a very good offer for which I am grateful but it’s really a post that I did not feel I had adequate training for, that’s the truth,” he added.
Duterte recently named Presidential Legal Counsel Secretary Salvador Panalo as new presidential spokesperson. (Jelly Musico/PNA)
