President Arroyo has decided to resume her televised press conferences at Malacañang starting Monday, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday.
He announced that Mrs. Arroyo would hold "The President’s Hour" to be aired live at government-owned Nation Broadcasting Network Channel 4 (NBN-4).
Bunye, who is concurrent press secretary, said "The President’s Hour" will be carried nationwide from 6:30 to 7 p.m. with other television stations hooking up with NBN-4.
Hopefully, Bunye said the President will have an interaction with both local and foreign media on a regular weekly basis.
Mrs. Arroyo shied away from conducting live televised press conferences at the Palace where she unsuccessfully curbed her presidential temper when reporters throw questions she found irritating.
At one time in her first three and a half years in office, her media managers headed by former public relations adviser Dante Ang, came up with a regular radio/ TV program for the President dubbed "May Gloria Ang Bukas Mo." It was, however, short-lived with the Office of the Press Secretary eventually scrapping the program.
As a compromise arrangement with the Malacañang Press Corps, Mrs. Arroyo occasionally holds informal luncheon interaction with Palace reporters but without TV and photographers’ cameras.
Bunye said "The President’s Hour" will keep the Filipino people, especially those in the countryside, posted on issues affecting the nation.
He said the public has expressed their desire to hear the President herself discuss her plans and programs.
Mrs. Arroyo has been making rounds in the media circles to promote her recently launched Medium Term Development Program, containing her administration’s 10-point legacy agenda for the next six years.
In a luncheon meeting she hosted with top media executives at the Palace last Thursday, which was attended by STAR publisher Max Soliven and editor-in-chief Isaac Belmonte, the President renewed her appeal to private media entities to give equal space or air time to "good news" as well as other positive developments in the country.
In her most recent speech at the National Press Club, read for her by Bunye, the President cited the presence of a "market for good news," which can likewise sell newspapers and up TV and radio ratings.
Her spokesman echoed this call, saying some "positive thinking" would not hurt.
Bunye noted that no matter what the President does, or says, "doomsayers would always conjure up a dark cloud even on the brightest of days."