By Jelly Musico/PNA
MANILA – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar has promised to take advantage of his position to strengthen and deepen the cooperation between the government and media.
“Gagamitin po natin itong pwesto para lalo pang mapalakas natin ang ugnayan ng gobyerno at ng media at solusyonan ang napakaramingproblem (I will use my position to strengthen the relationship between government and media to help thresh out so many problems),” Andanar said in a meeting with local journalists last Sunday in San Pablo, Laguna.
Andanar said he has been going around the country to look for the real situation of the media and to help in addressing their concerns.
“It’s a herculean task, sabi nga nila. Mahirap pero kung hindi natin gagawin, sino ang gagawa nito? (As they said, it’s a herculean task. It’s difficult but if we will not act, who will do it?),” he said.
Before his Laguna meeting, Andanar said he met members of different media groups in Maguindanao, Sorsogon, Bohol, Kalibo, Cagayan de Oro, Tacloban and Metro Manila.
Andanar said he found out that at least 40 percent of media members in the provinces have no passports.
With this, Andanar said a Press Freedom Caravan will be launched early next year to help journalists in getting passports through the “Passports on Wheels” program.
Andanar said the “Passport on Wheels” will also cater to one immediate family member of the journalists, through the help of the National Press Club (NPC), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) and Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
“That will happen next year. Our partners are NPC, KBP and PIA. They will be finalizing mechanism how this will happen,” he said.
He told the local journalists that the PCOO will also address other issues such as the medical needs and health problems of media.
“I have a mission to reach out our media members specially in the regions to at least assess some of the challenges,” Andanar said.
NPC Paul Gutierrez, meanwhile, thanked Andanar for his efforts to address the needs, not only of the members of government media but also of those in the private media.
Gutierrez also attributed to Andanar the creation of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) and the Freedom on Information (FOI) program.
PTFoMS, headed by Executive Director Joel Sy Egco and co-chaired by Andanar and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, was created through President Rodrigo Duterte’s Administrative Order No. 01, signed on Oct. 11, 2016.
On the other hand, the FOI was established to cover agencies under the Executive Branch of government through Executive Order No. 02, which Duterte signed a few days before he delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2016.
