PCO unembellished

Published January 8, 2017, 10:00 PM

The Presidential Communications Office or PCO is the agency responsible for organizing President Rodrigo Duterte’s press conferences and writing news reports and statements about his many activities. It is headed by former TV5 anchorman Martin Andanar, who has managed to post many accomplishments in his first six months since his appointment as Presidential Communications Secretary in July last year.

Easily the highlight of the PCO’s record of accomplishments in the past six months was getting Executive Order No. 2 on Freedom of Information (FOI) signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

While the EO covers only the executive branch, it is a big step forward in implementing the constitutional guarantee of full public disclosure of all government transactions involving public interest. The PCO has already begun online postings of such transactions in a few executive agencies, with many more lined up in the months ahead.

With EO2 as the template, the PCO expects the legislature to finally pass an FOI bill covering the three branches of government, thus fully implementing the letter and spirit of the fundamental law.

Another key accomplishment of PCO in 2016 was the issuance of Administrative Order No. 1 creating the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS). This task force is mandated to investigate all cases of harassment and violence against all legitimate members of media and to recommend charges against the perpetrators.

The PCO hopes that the task force will be able to put in place guidelines to protect journalists from harm and to put an end to media killings that have spiked since 1986 up to the present, earning for the country the dubious distinction as among the top five countries most dangerous for journalists.

President Duterte has approved the creation of the People’s Broadcasting Corporation that will integrate Radyo ng Bayan and PTV 4. The bill that will officially create the People’s Broadcasting Corporation is now up for deliberation in the House of Representatives and Senate. Among the goals of Radyo ng Bayan is to launch 30 new provincial stations in two years, reinforce its news and current affairs, and expand coverage of news reporting.

Despite the dominance of giant networks, in 2016, PTV-4 already ranked number 4 in viewership among five networks in the country, according to data from Kantar Media.

PTV 4, meanwhile, will reformat its newscasts, develop new contents relevant to nation-building, spearhead the transition to a digital PTV, strengthen news operations, and launch new programs that will further educate or inform the people about the government and its various agencies, in many creative ways.

PCO has also secured the President’s approval for the establishment of the Mindanao Broadcast Hub that will strengthen tri-media coverage of developments in Mindanao. Construction will start in 2017.

With Andanar at the helm, the agency has also obtained the approval by the National Telecommunications Office (NTC) of the proposal of the Bureau of Broadcast Service to use 87.5 FM nationwide as the government FM station.

The PCO has established bilateral relations with the Ministries of Information of the following countries: China, Japan, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. These ties will allow PCO people to learn more news broadcasting and management expertise from partner-countries.

PCO has also forged a partnership with Facebook for live streaming of almost all major presidential activities. This allows netizens to keep abreast of President Duterte’s policy pronouncements before various audiences.

The launching of Mula Sa Masa, Para sa Masa tabloid is intended to reach a wider segment of the population at the grassroots level and to explain the Duterte administration’s reform agenda anchored on his campaign platform of Tunay na Pagbabago or real change.

The PCO will also strengthen the Philippine News Agency through retraining, retooling and alignment of objectives so it becomes “The News Wire Agency” to reckon with in the country.

The Philippine Information Agency, meanwhile, will be re-engineered to be a fully functioning advertising and public relations arm of government, with expertise in communications planning and research, messaging, production, dissemination, and media placement, and capable of strengthening partnerships with other entities in both government and the private sector to ensure more effective communication across all sectors.

The PCO integrates three offices under the previous administration, namely the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) and the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, for more efficient operations.

Apart from all this, the PCO has successfully integrated social media influencers in its news dissemination efforts, thus broadening the reach of its key messages and allowing more people to understand what the Duterte administration is doing in all aspects of governance.