Work in progress

I would rather be elsewhere than occupying Secretary Martin Andanar’s position as head of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

For one, his job is not easy. Rather, it is difficult. President Duterte is being attacked from all fronts by people who seem not to want to see him succeed. What the President says and does are being twisted to suit different agendas. And it is Andanar’s job to set the record straight.

But while the President can be ill-tempered and coarse in his demeanor and words, Andanar remains calm, composed, patient. They complement each other, which is probably the reason why he has the full trust and confidence of the President.

Andanar also has a direct line with President Digong and thus can always consult the President on any and all issues that may arise from day-to-day and be properly briefed on whatever messages should be conveyed to the people. And that is why, whenever he communicates with members of the media, his message indeed comes from the President.

Personally, I like Andanar and presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella because they are both cool and composed. As a long-time media practitioner and a member of the Malacañang Press Corps and congressional press at one time, I know how media people oftentimes “bait” an interviewee into saying something controversial, asking hypothetical questions in the hope of getting the source into giving a juicy quote, angering the interviewee by asking him to comment to a negative news about him. We in the media hate interviewees who are NR (no reaction) if the question would elicit a response that would re- quire the interview to say something bad about another person or entity. These kind of interviewees are not rich source of exciting stories. Andanar and Abella are such kind of interviewees who can be bad for media people looking for stories but good for the presidency. The President is the reverse. He could have said “no comment” a number of times to questions from media people but he would answer, and his answer would oftentimes be controversial. And it would be Andanar and Abella’s job to rebuild the president’s image as a tough but caring President.

And then of course there is this problem of other Cabinet secretaries speaking on behalf of President Duterte, making conflicting statements at times. At one time, Senator Frank Drilon said those speaking for the President should be limited to Andanar, Abella and probably the Executive Secretary. Andanar has been at the receiving end of misplaced criticisms that mostly should be directed at another Cabinet official and an overzealous lawyer who have this bad habit of second-guessing the context of the President’s pronouncements.

Andanar told Drilon that no less than the president has told his Cabinet that only Abella can speak for him and, in the absence of Abella, Andanar may answer queries from media.

But of course, Andanar and the PCO have had their share of mistakes.

The PCO and Andanar had been bashed on social media after the government journal Official Gazette’s Facebook page made a historical post about former president Marcos’ 99th birth anniversary, suggesting that Marcos “stepped down in 1986 to avoid bloodshed during an uprising.” Bashers accused them of revising history.

PCO assistant secretary Ramon Cualoping III, who is in charge of the PCO’s Facebook postings, would later issue an apology after Andanar explained to him there should be no omission of historical facts.

And then there are the conflicting statements on the scope of the state of lawlessness declared by President Duterte in response to the Davao City bombing and the wrong announcement that Duterte would be seated between US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the gala dinner of the ASEAN summit in Laos.

Andanar was humble enough to admit their lapses, instead of being defensive. He and his team displayed professionalism, breeding, good manners, experience.

The PCO is still a work in progress. Andanar not only speaks at times for the President but also runs several agencies which were in shambles when he assumed office. After all, he has good plans for the People’s Television Network (PTV 4) – transforming it into a world-class network that is self-sustaining. He wants to transform the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and Philippine News Agency (PNA) from being lethargic entities into pro-active offices that are in good shape. And if only for that, many want to give Andanar a so-called honeymoon period to prove that he is the right person for the job.