MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has signed an executive order revamping the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), which changed the undersecretaries' areas of concerns and mandating the office to cooperate with a Palace adviser for their communications strategy.
Executive Order No. 16, signed by Marcos on Feb. 13 but only released on Tuesday, aims "to consolidate its communications activities and ensure efficient delivery of its core services to the public," Malacañang said.
It will now be tasked to "coordinate closely" with the Presidential Adviser for Creative Communications for their communications strategy or "matters relating to communications and information dissemination," a statement released by the Palace read.
The new order also restructured the mandates of undersecretaries, pointing out that there would now be 5 functional areas now under the President's lead communications office.
- Traditional Media and External Affairs
- Digital Media Services
- Content Production
- Broadcast Production and Operations
- Administration and Finance
This is lower than the 7 current areas of concern under the PCO, which includes the following:
- Undersecretary for Digital Media Services
- Undersecretary for Media Accreditation and Relations
- Undersecretary for Administration, Finance, & Procurement
- Undersecretary for Print Media Services and related GOCCs and attached agencies
- Undersecretary for Special Concerns
- Undersecretary for Broadcast Media Services and related GOCCs and attached agencies
- Undersecretary for Operations, Plans, and Policies
The executive order also amended EO No. 2 which placed some Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) to the Office of the President.
Because of this, the People's Television Network, Inc., APO Production Unit, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, and the National Printing Office have been "reattached" to the PCO, with an assistant secretary supervising these firms.
The following have also been transferred to the direct supervision of the PCO:
- Presidential Broadcast Service-Bureau of Broadcast Services
- Bureau of Communication Services
- News and Information Bureau
- Freedom of Information-Program Management Office
- Philippine Information Agency
- Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM)
Previously, based on EO No. 2, the RTVM was under the direct supervision and control of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS). The PIA, on the other hand, was under the direct supervision of the Office of the President (OP)
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EO NO 2. -
The PMS is supervised by the Office of the Executive Secretary, based on EO No. 11.
Malacañang has yet to name the 5 undersecretaries heading the new areas of concerns, and the assistant secretary who will lead the GOCCs under the PCO.
This is also the third time the President's communications team was revamped under President Marcos.
The first time was when Marcos abolished the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson and renamed the Presidential Communications Operations Office into the Office of the Press Secretary in July 2022.
The second time was in December last year when he restructured the OP and renamed the Office of the Press Secretary as the Presidential Communications Office.
Based on EO No. 11, the PCO "shall be responsible for crafting, formulating, developing, enhancing and coordinating the messaging system of the Executive branch and the Office of the President."