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01 ■ DOOMED FROM A1 ‘Comm group’ doomed


“If you have more than one head with the same rank in the same turf, people will be confused. In this case, your people’s best reaction would be to do nothing,” he told Manila Times, adding that in the Digital Age everything are simplified, not expanded.


“It is a must that the Palace has a unified source of informa- tion,” he said. For his part, Reyes, who was the press secretary of former President Fidel Ramos for more than a year and who was reappointed to the position by Joseph Estrada in 1998, doubts the communications group’s chances of succeeding. “You simply cannot have two heads in one agency. I have not seen such an experiment. You cannot divide or separate related functions,” he said, claiming that while the old Office of the Press Secretary setup was “imperfect,” it was more effective. Both Tatad and Reyes agreed that the “troika” of broadcast journalist Ricky Carandang, columnist Herminio “Sonny” Coloma and presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda tends to sow confusion among their followers and the media as well.


The Times also sought for comment former Malacañang press officials Ignacio Bunye and Horacio “Ducky” Paredes who served, respectively, under Gloria Arroyo and the late Corazon Aquino. But the two declined an interview. Paredes said, however, that he had “nothing good to say” about the subject. Bunye, who now sits as a member of the Monetary Board, said he would not want to give “unsolicited advice.”


Management nightmare Tatad went on to say that failure


to clearly delineate the functions of the communication group’s superiors would be an informa- tion management nightmare. While Lacierda was clearly the spokesman for the President, Coloma and Carandang have been encroaching upon the same territory causing them to step on each other’s toes. “All of them are competent, but only one should be chief,” he said. “For one, if you separate functions and put Carandang in charge of messaging, people might have the wrong impression that every information that would come from Malacañang is a spin. They are all Cabinet secretaries. There should only be one boss to run the agency. The chain of command must be clear,” explained the former senator, who ran but lost under former President Joseph Estrada’s opposition ticket. Reyes underscored the necessity to reorganize the OPS because some bureaus and attached offices have overlap- ping functions, but he insisted that it should maintain one person at the top.


“There are bureaus that need to be absorbed by other bureaus, but what is important is that functions are clearly defined. Not all of them should act as boss. Some of them should be undersecretaries,” he said. “To me, there is no doubt that Coloma and Carandang are competent but again, you cannot have two heads,” he added.


Equal powers Executive Order 4 aims to


modernize the Palace’s com- munications strategy to better deliver President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s message to the people. The PCOO head has the rank of a Cabinet secretary with all corresponding sala- ries, emoluments and benefits. On the other hand, the PCDSPO is involved in coordi- nating the crafting and en- hancing of the messaging system under the Office of the President.


The Executive Order states that the PCOO will develop and implement the “necessary guidelines and mechanisms to deliver and disseminate information regarding the policies, programs, official activities and achievements of the President and the execu- tive.” Also, that office coordi- nates and cultivates relations with private media. Agencies attached that


office, according to Executive


Order 4, are the News and Information Bureau, Philip- pine News Agency, Philippine Information Agency, IBC 13, RPN 9, NBN-4, PBS-Radio Television Malacañang, Bureau of Broadcast, Bureau of Communication Services, National Printing Office, APO Production Unit and OP Web Development Office. The PCDSPO, meanwhile, is managed by a head with Cabinet secretary rank and salaries, benefits and emoluments due. Its head will be assisted by an undersecretary, a chief of staff and assistant secretary for messaging. Lacierda’s office is now part of the Communications Group unlike before when it was under OPS. Following this setup, Carandang is in charge of “messaging,” while Coloma is responsible for “media operations.”


Carandang and Coloma have equal powers.


Competing factions Coloma is a former Transporta-


tion undersecretary who was believed to be backed by television director and Aquino’s cousin Maria Montelibano, who was the head of Radio-TV Malacañang during the presi- dency of Cory Aquino.


Carandang and Lacierda are identified with the Liberal Party and Hyatt 10 group, whose members—all former Cabinet officials who bolted from the Arroyo government— supported the tandem of Aquino and defeated vice presidential bet, former Sen. Manuel Roxas 2nd.


Coloma and Montelibano


worked during the campaign together on Samar Avenue in Quezon City, hence the name of their faction, “Samar” group. They were said to be belonging to a faction in the Aquino campaign that remains at odds with the group of Lacierda and Carandang that is referred to as the “Balay” group. Tatad said that these fac- tions within the President’s team could, in the long run, weaken the structure of the information office. “Palace information person-


nel would tend to obey someone whom they think is closest to the president.” In Tatad’s view, an effective press secretary and spokesman should be able to “easily read what the president wants to be communicated and study what he wanted done.” “In my experience, Marcos knew what he was doing, and I knew what he wanted to tell the public. The most important part of communicating is that you must have something significant to communicate. The problem, at present, is that even if Kit Tatad was the one there, I will have nothing to say. The information problem that the government is now experiencing is just a symptom of a bigger one.” Meanwhile, Reyes recalled the gaffe over the handling of the August 23 Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking crisis as an effect of the confusing setup. “They should have sent somebody to handle media relations and coordination with the PNP [Philippine National Police]. The OPS should have a prepared a media control plan,” he said. It will be recalled that


Coloma and Carandang blamed each other for the fact that Aquino missed the call of Donald Tsang, chief of the Special Administration Region of Hong Kong. The incident happened during the most crucial minutes leading to the fatal shooting of eight Hong Kong tourists.


Coloma better suited For political information


pundits like Tatad and Reyes, Coloma seems to have the edge in heading Malacañang’s information department because of his “more impecca- ble” record. “Sonny Coloma, in my view, should head the agency because of his impressive academic and management background. He should be the one giving directions,” Tatad said. Reyes echoed Tatad’s opinion with a short, three worded statement: “Coloma is ok.”


10 18 20 34 48 14 19 30 32 34 41


A special report 2 The Sunday Times ■ CONFORMS FROM A1 Structure conforms to President Aquino’s promises


July 30 but was formally transmit- ted on August 5.


In signing the order, President


Aquino explained that there was a “vital need to reorganize and ef- fect functional changes within the OPS and create an office to sys- tematize, rationalize and comple- ment the existing structure to achieve a more efficient and sys- tematic interaction between the people, the OP [Office of the Presi- dent] and the executive branch.” The President added that it was “imperative for government to re- define its efforts to integrate and harmonize its message conceptua- lization, formulation and devel- opment policies and programs in order to fully utilize the oppor- tunities arising from the rapid de- velopment of existing and emerg- ing media.”


He renamed the OPS as Presiden- tial Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and created the Presidentia Communications De- velopment and Strategic Plan- ning Office (PCDSPO).


Unlike the Office of the Press Sec-


retary, the communications group is headed by two Cabinet secretaries —former Transportation Undersec- retary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma and former television news anchor Ramon “Ricky” Carandang. The Presidential spokesman, which used to be a part of the Of- fice of the President in the previous


■ BETTER FROM A1 More not always better, experts say


ize, reorganize or abolish positions dedicated to presidential communi- cations anytime.


During the early years of the Philippine Republic, presidential communications were not clearly designated to a person or office con- centrating solely on the said duty. The cited function, according to the PCDSPO primer, was mostly filled in by the executive secretary. “Since the time of the first Execu-


tive Secretary, Jorge B. Vargas who used to give daily press briefings, the Executive Secretary has often played a combined role of spokesman and de facto press secretary, as well as exercising supervision, in a delegated capacity, of presidential communi- cations,” according to the primer. Besides delegating the function to their respective executive secretaries, past presidents sometimes also opted to draft their private and legislative secretaries, Cabinet members, under- secretaries of departments, diplomats, and journalists, to handle presiden- tial communications.


Wartime conditions Because of the changing circum-


stances of the government, vari- ous offices were established in order to handle presidential communications. Conditions during World War II prompted the exiled administration of President Manuel Quezon to del- egate public relations functions to the Office of Special Services. That office was tasked to disseminate in- formation about the government’s war effort, according to the PCDSPO. Subsequently, Carlos P. Romulo was appointed Secretary of Information and Public Relations, the first Cabi- net-level portfolio designated to han- dle presidential communications. According to the PCDSPO, upon the restoration of the Common- wealth government in the Philip- pines, the Cabinet was reorganized. The Department of Public Instruc- tion (today’s Department of Educa- tion) and the Department of Infor- mation and Public Relations were merged into the Department of Public Instruction and Information. By means of a budget appropria- tion, President Manuel Roxas estab- lished the Department of Public Relations, which replaced the func- tions of the Department of Instruc- tion and Information. The cited de- partment was later renamed as the Office of Public Relations. “This setup was retained by Presi- dent Elpidio Quirino during his administration. He, however, added the position of Press Secretary within the Private Office: the Press Secretary ‘serves as the presidential spokesman and his functions in- clude issuing press releases and statements for the President and other related matters,’” according to the PCDSPO.


Communication-


group approach The PCDSPO, moreover, cited that President Elpidio Quirino as the first chief executive to take the com- munications group approach by es- tablishing the Philippine Informa- tion Service in 1950.


“Composed of a seven-person board, of whom the Press Secretary


was an ex-officio member. The Phil- ippine Information Board in turn determined the policies, plans, rules and regulations of the Philippine Information Service, headed by a Director of Public Information,” the PCDSPO explained. President Ramon Magsaysay later


on, however, abolished the position of Secretary of Public Information. In 1956, Magsaysay instead con- ferred Cabinet rank upon the Press Secretary. He also established the National Media Production Center in 1954 “for delivery of different media of mass communications, such as press releases, handbills, pamphlets, posters, motion pictures, film-strips, etc., and for motion pic- ture and photo essay coverage of dif- ferent projects of the government,” according to the PCDSPO primer. The position of the press secre-


tary would be retained in the ad- ministrations of Carlos Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal and Fer- dinand Marcos.


Under martial law Careful attention to government


propaganda, meanwhile, was ob- served during the martial law era. Upon the imposition of martial law in 1972, then President Marcos cre- ated the position of the Secretary of Public Information. Through the same Presidential Decree that estab- lished the cited position, the Presi- dential Press Office, the Bureau of National and Foreign Information, the Bureau of Broadcast, the Bureau of Standards for Mass Media, and the Bureau of Research were also formed. Since the imposition of martial


law then meant placing private me- dia entities under government con- trol, Marcos also established the Mass Media Council, which was composed of the Print Media Council and Broad- cast Media Council to monitor viola- tions of government regulation on information. State media, meanwhile, was supervised by the National Me- dia Production Center, according to the PCDSPO primer.


After the lifting of martial law in


1981, the various councils were abolished while the former Cabinet portfolio of the Secretary of Public Information became a ministerial position in a semi-parliamentary system, the PCDSPO explained.


Contemporary forms The constant formation and abolition


of positions handling presidential communications continued after the Marcos regime and the so-called res- toration of democracy brought about by the first EDSA revolt.


President Corazon Aquino,


for one, established the posi- tion of presidential spokesman, assumed by former Senator Rene Saguisag, while Teodoro Locsin Jr. was appointed as min- ister of Information. The Cabi- net position of the Press Secre- tary, meanwhile, was re-estab- lished in 1986. In 1987, the Office of the Press Secretary, with its subordinate agencies, was institutionalized, according to the PCDSPO. President Fidel Ramos subse- quently reorganized the Office of the Press Secretary, while President Joseph Estrada abolished the posi-


tion of the presidential spokesper- son and merged its functions to that of the Press Secretary. The said po- sition, however, was restored during the administration of President Gloria Arroyo. President Arroyo, meanwhile, es- tablished the Office of the Commu- nications director and assigned the functions of the Press Secretary to the presidential spokesman. In 2006, she “created the Com- munications Group, which trans- ferred the powers of the Commu- nications Director to the Press Sec- retary, while the Chairman of the Communications Group was as- signed supervision of the Philip- pine Information Agency. The di- rector general of the Philippine In- formation Agency was raised to Cabinet rank as well,” according to the PCDSPO.


The primer added that prior to


Aquino’s assumption to power, presidential communications were handled by three Cabinet-level of- ficials, namely: the Press Secretary, the Presidential Spokesman, and the Director General of the Philippine Information Agency.


Current set-up Realizing the compelling need for


good press, among the first Executive Orders issued by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd was Executive Order (EO) 4, which reorganizes the Office of the Press Secretary into the Presidential Communications Op- erations Office (PCOO). That office was formed in response to complexities posed by the emer- gence of the social media. It is “im- perative that government redefines its efforts to integrate and harmonize its message conceptualization, formation and development poli- cies and programs in order to fully utilize the opportunities arising from the rapid develop- ment of existing and emerging media,” according to EO 4. Toward such ends, the PCOO in- tegrates two offices into a single en- tity tasked primarily to disseminate messages from the President and han- dle feedback from the public. One of the merged offices, the Presidential Communications Of- fice (PCO), is tasked to supervise state-owned media entities and serve as liaison to private media en- tities. The second office, the PCDSPO, is responsible for plan- ning the President’s communication strategy, crafting speeches and state- ments, and conducting polls. The PCOO has two chiefs— former broadcaster Ricky Carandang, who heads the PCDSPO, and former Department of Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma who leads the operations office. Indeed, presidential communi- cations is an integral function of the Executive Department, that branch of government constantly in contact with the people. Naturally, the func- tion would be manifested through varying forms throughout the his- tory of the Republic because of changing conditions and demands. One thing, however, remains con- stant: Good governance, combined with solid performance, is still the best PR approach.


administrations, now falls under the new communications group. Secretary Edwin Lacierda, the of- ficial spokesman of President Aquino, is supposed to work closely with the PCOO.


Coloma’s role:


Information dissemination Coloma heads the Presidential Communications Operations Of- fice, which disseminates the gov- ernment’s message to private me- dia companies and supervises the state-owned and sequestered me- dia entities.


His office is also accredits and authenticates the credentials of for- eign media correspondents. Coloma is assisted by an un- dersecretary for administration and finance an undersecretary for operations, a chief of Staff, an as- sistant secretary for legislative af- fairs, and an electronic data processing division chief. Agen- cies that fall under Coloma’s turf include the News and Informa- tion Bureau, Philippine News Agency, Philippine Information Agency, IBC 13, NBN 4, PBS- Radio-TV Malacañang, National Printing Office, Bureau of Com- munications Services, APO Pro- duction Unit and OP Wed De- velopment Office.


Carandang’s role: ‘Messaging’ Carandang, for his part, heads the


Presidential Communications De- velopment and Strategic Planning Office, which coordinates the craft- ing and enhancement of the messaging system under the Office of the President.


That office is also in charge of communication strategies, writing speeches and statements of the President, as well as conducting market research and polling. Carandang’s staff includes a


deputy, former television host and columnist Manuel “Manolo” Quezon 3rd, who holds the rank of undersecretary.


As the director of the PCDSPO, Quezon is also the editor in chief of the government’s website, Of- ficial Gazette and the “new me- dia” operator.


The agencies attached to the Carandang’s office are the Presiden- tial Message Staff, OP Correspond- ence Office, Media Research and De- velopment Staff, Presidential Mu- seum and Library, Official Gazette and Speech Writers Group.


Feedback mechanism During his inaugural speech on


June 30, President Aquino had promised that his government would set up a “feedback mecha- nism” to better serve the Filipino people, whom the Chief Execu- tive called his “boss.” “We will design and implement an interaction and feedback mecha-


nism that can effectively respond to the people’s needs and aspirations,” the 50-year-old bachelor President had said.


In compliance of his promise of creating a “feedback mecha- nism,” Mr. Aquino’s communica- tions group tapped all forms of media, including the popular so- cial networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. In mid-August, the Palace launched the website, www.president.gov.ph, which pro- vides updates on the official ap- pearances of President Aquino and features links to various gov- ernment agencies and social net- working sites. President Aquino’s official


Facebook account, which is man- aged by the New Media team under the PCOO, now has more than 60,000 supporters.


Cabinet spokesman To further help his new adminis-


tration get its message across, the President issued a memorandum, instructing all his Cabinet secre- taries to designate their respec- tive spokesmen.


These spokesmen, Lacierda explained, would be allowed to answer questions from mem- bers of media if the Cabinet secretaries would not be avail- able to answer inquiries be- cause of work.


■ COMMUNICATION FROM A1


Structures of communication groups vary worldwide


Minister’s Spokesman, also known as the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS). That official relays messages from the prime minister to a small group of media correspondents known as lobby correspondents usually in the prime minister’s office located at No. 10 Downing Street. The PMOS is a position listed in the United Kingdom Civil Service.


United States The White House Press Secretary handles the US government’s media relations. The press secretary’s primary responsibility is to act as spokesman for the administration especially in daily press briefings with members of the White House Press Corps. The current White House Press Secretary is Robert Gibbs. The Press Secretary also works closely


with the White House Communications Director, who is responsible for planning the president’s communications strategy. The director prepares the president’s speeches, such as the state of the union address.


Japan The Chief Cabinet Secretary or the naikaku kanbÙ chÙkan handles media relations in Japan. That official, however, performs a bigger role in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet since he also serves as Japan’s Minister of State, tasked with directing the Cabinet Secretariat. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, besides serving as the government’s press secretary, also conducts policy research and prepares materials to be discussed at Cabinet meetings. Since 1947, the position has been regarded as a stepping stone to the prime minister post. Currently, Yoshito Sengoku is the Chief Cabinet Secretary.


China Media relations in China remains still largely regulated under a regime of government control over media activities. As such, government communications are mainly coursed through state media. Currently, the office directly overseeing government communications is the State Council Information Office, which is directly under the supervision of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. The council is synonymous with the Central People’s Government and is considered the chief administrative authority of China.


Saudi Arabia Government communica- tions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is coursed through state media entities supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Information. The ministry is responsible for the Kingdom’s television broadcasting, radio broadcasting, the press and publication of printed material. It is also responsible for the Kingdom’s relations with the foreign press. Meanwhile, the Saudi Press


Agency, which forms part of the Ministry of Culture and Information, has offices in Bonne, Cairo, London, Tunis and Washington, D.C. The press agency is the central department for the collection and dissemination of official news of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It distributes news reports to newspapers, news agencies, radio and television. FRANK LLOYD TIONGSON


SUNDAY O c tober 3, 2010


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