Incoming Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) Martin Andanar. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Shorter by one letter, smaller with one office out, easier to manage.
In line with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 directive for his Cabinet to be a 鈥渟treamlined鈥� and unified system, his incoming communications chief, Martin Andanar, is considering changes in the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), looking to tame what is often called Malaca帽ang鈥檚 three-headed monster.
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His plan: drop one 鈥淥鈥� from PCOO then fold into it a parallel, laboriously named office to simplify the task of conveying the administration鈥檚 message to the public.
鈥淸I]t will just be Presidential Communications Office (PCO). Ditch 鈥榦perations鈥� so it鈥檚 easier to remember,鈥� Andanar said.
The currently separate Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) will be folded into the PCO so that there will be only one communications office whose name and acronym will be easier to pronounce even for the acronym-crazy Philippine press.
Press office
The current PCOO鈥攖he equivalent of the Office of the Press Secretary in olden days鈥攈andles Malaca帽ang鈥檚 news and information bureau, state-run radio and television, and printing office.
The PCDSPO oversees the Official Gazette, Presidential Museum and Library, and Malaca帽ang鈥檚 pool of speech writers. It is headed by Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III.
Quezon鈥檚 office was created in 2010, at the start of the Aquino administration.
鈥淲e are subsuming the functions of [Undersecretary] Quezon. So what it looks like is we are bringing back the old organization (of the communications group) so it won鈥檛 be chaotic, as we are not in chaos鈥攗nlike them,鈥� Andanar said.
Andanar was apparently referring to the confusion in the setup of the Aquino administration鈥檚 communications group, which had several talking heads at any given time.
One spokesperson
In contrast, the incoming Duterte administration will have only one presidential spokesperson, the recently appointed Ernesto Abella, and Andanar will be the PCO chief with the rank of secretary.
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Abella took the job last week, replacing lawyer Salvador Panelo, who was appointed chief presidential legal counsel after serving briefly as Duterte鈥檚 spokesperson.
He will handle the press, an important role, given the ban that Duterte imposed on the media after international news organizations scoriated him for his seeming disdain for human rights, acid tongue and public crudity.
Abella said the incoming communications group would have a crisis management team 鈥渟o that when there鈥檚 a crisis, it will be easier for us to respond.鈥�
That would be a welcome change from the Aquino administration鈥檚 silence that stretched for days after the eruption of a crisis, such as the massacre of police commandos in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, in January last year, in a covert counterterrorism operation that backfired on the police leadership and Malaca帽ang.
In an interview after his appointment, Andanar promised to give the media access to information, and said Duterte would issue 鈥渁n executive order for freedom of information.鈥� TVJ
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