PCOO scraps Strategic Communications Office
May 31, 2017 | 8:22am
PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar at a press briefing. PPD/File
MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Communications Operations Office has abolished the Strategic Communications Office as part of its streamlining efforts.
The abolition of the office was contained in Office Order No. 26 issued by PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar on May 30. The order also placed 13 employees of the office under Andanar's supervision and seven others under PCOO Assistant Secretary Kissinger Reyes.
“All other personnel under the Strategic Communications whose name is not included is deemed to have resigned and / or the contract of service expired,” the order read.
Andanar denied reports that 40 people were fired because of the streamlining.
“The news that 40 people were fired is very inaccurate. I did not fire anyone,” Andanar, whose office has been under fire for issues on accuracy, said.
'Historical revisionism'
The Strategic Communications Office used to be led by PCOO Assistant Secretary Ramon Cualoping III.
The office drew flak last year after the Official Gazette published an infographic about ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos that did not mention human rights violations during his watch. The Official Gazette is the repository of government documents.
The infographic, which was released in time for Marcos' 99th birth anniversary, stated that the former president declared martial law “to suppress a communist insurgency and secessionism in Mindanao.”
It said that “in 1986, Marcos stepped down from the presidency to avoid bloodshed during the uprising that came to be known as ‘People Power’.”
Critics claimed that the infographic was an attempt to revise history in favor of Marcos, who was given a hero’s burial last Novemnber as Duterte ordered despite protests from martial law victims.
Cualoping denied that his office was revising history and maintained that it was only conveying what is documented in the official records. He claimed that the Official Gazette is “devoid of any political color and affiliations.”
Andanar also clarified that the Strategic Communications Office is different from the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO).
He said the Strategic Communications Office is a division of PCOO while the PCDSPO ceased to exist after President Benigno Aquino III stepped down from office.
PCDSPO was created by Executive Order No. 4 signed by Aquino in 2010. It was tasked to craft, develop and enhance the messaging system of the Office of the President and ensure consistency in the messages of the executive department.
Malacañang is said to be eyeing a reorganization of Duterte’s communication team but the executive order is still being drafted.
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