TU spokesman now heads RPN-9

The young and candid spokesperson for the administration Team Unity during the senatorial elections last May has been appointed as chairman of financially hemorrhaging sequestered television station Radio Philippines Network (RPN) 9.

Antonio “Tonypet” Albano, Team Unity deputy spokesperson and erstwhile undersecretary and executive director of Malacañang’s Office of Political Coalition Affairs, formally assumed the post of chairman of government-sequestered RPN 9 last week, replacing Education Undersecretary Mona Valisno who will concentrate on her post as Presidential Assistant for Education.

Albano said that he was looking forward to tackling the financial problems of the television station.

“My first mission is to make sure that it  (RPN 9) comes out of the red. Channel 9 has a lot of debt so we have to rehabilitate it and make it profitable,” Albano told The STAR in an interview.

Still showing his optimism last May where he made forecasts of big wins for the Lakas senatorial slate that later proved wrong, Albano said that his long-term goal was to make RPN 9 the number one station in the country from its current position as cellar-dweller in TV ratings.

“In two years, we want to claim the number one position,” Albano said.

Also appointed to the board of directors of RPN 9 was Undersecretary Robert Rivera.

The company’s president and chief executive officer is former senator Orlando Mercado, who was the defense secretary during the time of pardoned former President Joseph Estrada.  – Rainier Allan Ronda