Duterte backs reorganization of Palace press office

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is supporting a proposal of Senate President Vicente Sotto III and some of his colleagues to revert the functions of the Presidential Communications Operations Office to the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS).

Amid reports of inefficiency of the PCOO, sources said Sotto, along with Senators Gregorio Honasan and Panfilo Lacson, met with the President ahead of Wednesday’s budget hearing for the PCOO’s P1.4-billion budget for next year.

It was during the private meeting between the President and senators in Malacañang when the proposal to dissolve the PCOO and revive the OPS cropped up.

In previous administrations, the communication team of the president was handled by only one group under the presidential spokesperson until it was changed during the time of former president Benigno Aquino III, who split the functions into two groups – PCOO and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). 

“I bow to the wisdom of our legislators. I understand that was actually the system and I noticed the pictures on the stairways, they are all press secretaries. But… a decision (will have) to be made also by the President because the creation of PCOO is by reason of an executive order,” said presidential spokesman Harry Roque.

Roque said the President has the power to reorganize the bureaucracy.

Lawmakers have vowed to block the approval of the PCOO budget unless the agency’s functions have been reverted to the OPS, which remains under the Office of the President but has no budget because of lack of an executive order that formally creates the unit under the present setup.

This came as some officials are mustering support to get the nod of the President to become the new presidential spokesperson once Roque decides to run for an elective post in the 2019 midterm elections.   

The filing of certificates of candidacy before the Commission on Elections is set on Oct. 11 to 17. Once a government official files his or her bid, the person is deemed resigned from post under election laws.

Chief presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo is one of the major contenders to be appointed presidential spokesman.

Sotto had suggested the reorganization of the PCOO to revert the agency back to the OPS during budget deliberations before the finance subcommittee chaired by Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito.

He said he and several other senators wanted to take a closer look at the PCOO budget, how it has been spent in the last two years and “if it has really been effective in carrying out the messages of the President to the people.”     –With Paolo Romero