PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the reorganization and renaming of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) into the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS).
Through Executive Order (EO) No. 2 dated June 30, 2022, the PCOO will be renamed and reorganized under the OPS, which will be led by Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles.
The OPS will be authorized to designate an assistant secretary with no more than 20 personnel to be designated by Cruz-Angeles and approved by Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez.
Likewise, the communications agency will be allowed to have eight undersecretaries, each with their own assistant secretaries and support staff for areas on:
Operations, Plans and Policies
Administration, Finance and Procurement
Legal Affairs
Media Accreditation and Relations
Digital Media Services
Print Media Services
Broadcast Media Services
Special Concerns
With this development, Marcos stated in his EO that it is the policy of the administration to provide true, accurate, and relevant information through effective utilization of communications assets and resources.
As for the PCOO-attached offices, the EO stated that the OPS will have direct control on APO Production Unit, Bureau of Broadcast Services, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, National Printing Office, News and Information Bureau and the People’s Television Network.
The Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) will be placed under the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), while the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) will absorb the Bureau of Communications Services, Freedom of Information-Program Management Office and the Good Governance Office, the EO added.
The PIA shall continue to be headed by the Director-General, with a rank of Undersecretary, and shall be entitled to four Deputy Directors-General with the rank, salary and emoluments of Assistant Secretary and four Assistant Directors-General with the rank, salary, and emoluments of Director IV.
The Office of the Presidential Spokesperson is also deemed abolished under EO No. 2. Its functions, permanent personnel and equipment shall be transferred to the OPS, according to the EO.
Established in 1986, the OPS was created to handle the “information and communications operations of the Office of the President.”
It was amended in 2010 through EO No. 4 of then-President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, which created the PCOO and its attached agencies.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the reconstitution of the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson in 2020 through EO No. 111 and abolished the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Office.
