MANILA -- Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar cited the importance of government and the private media’s contribution to President Rodrigo Duterte’s high trust and performance ratings.
In a recent press gathering in Cebu City, the PCOO chief expressed his gratitude to the members of the media for delivering objective, hypercritical, and level-headed news to the public.
“Sa ato mga taga-media, wala man gyud tay weekend (We do not really have weekends in the media industry) nor holidays except for Holy Week but I am really proud of you, my colleagues because you understand the meaning of public service. Salamat sa pagbabahagi ng mga accomplishment ng pangulo (Thank you for sharing the President's accomplishments),” Andanar said.
He added that he owes his fellows for marching with the government in building this nation.
A Pulse Asia survey conducted Dec. 14 to 21, which was released Friday, showed the President gained a 76 percent trust score and an 81 percent performance rating in the last quarter of 2018.
This was up four percent and six percent from his 72 percent and 75 percentage scores in September 2018.
Dev't in gov't media
Meanwhile, Andanar also took pride over the "transformation" of the Philippine Information Agency, Philippine News Agency, People's Television, and Radyo Pilipinas since 2016.
The Philippine Information Agency, he said, has strengthened its reach and manpower over the past two years and seven months.
PTV, on the other hand, has also seen huge refurbishments and expanded viewership.
Meanwhile, Andanar hailed the extended readership reach of the Philippine News Agency which escalated from at least 11,000 when its new website was launched in April 2017, to more than 1 million monthly page views on the site today.
“I remember the Radyo Pilipinas with zero rating and now it is running sixth place in Metro Manila, the FM Station also went from zero rating to running number one on the road,” the PCOO chief said, adding that the radio and other media infrastructure of the government has now been upgraded to world-class.
He also boasted of the four-storey Mindanao Media Hub that is eyed to be completed on the first or second quarter this year.
These enhancements, he said, are modeled from his objectives in PCOO, which include reforming the media infrastructure, improving the bureaucracy in the agency, and creating "bridge" between the government and private media.
Andanar cited the creation of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) and the Freedom on Information (FOI) program as contributory factors in the improvement of the government media and the removal of the Philippines from the five most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
PTFoMS, headed by Executive Director Joel Sy Egco and co-chaired by Andanar and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, was created through President Rodrigo Duterte's Administrative Order No. 01, signed on Oct. 11, 2016.
“I am here as a media colleague to advance our interest in this industry. And that is to be able to create an environment and ensure a media landscape that will give everyone and those aspiring to be media men a better opportunity in this field,” he said. (PNA)
