PCOO creates Global Media Office to field queries from foreign journos

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar revealed on Sunday said that an Office for Global Media Affairs was recently created to address concerns and queries from foreign correspondents regarding issues in the Philippines.

"We will process the questions coming from anywhere in the world... kung mayroong mga questions sa ating presidente or sa iba’t ibang sangay ng gobyerno. Itong division na ito ang mamamahala at tutulong sa ating gobyerno para mabigyan ng sagot iyong mga katanungan ng maraming reporters sa buong mundo," PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar told a Metro Manila news-talk radio station.

Andanar said the move was made as the PCOO transitioned back to the Office of the Press Secretary and with the possibility that a press attaché division would be established in the future.

The communications secretary announced that former television reporter and former media specialist in the Asia-Pacific Media Hub of the US State Department Jayvee Arcena would lead the Office for Global Media Affairs.

"We’ve worked with Jayvee for such a long time, we know that he’s very hard working, he is a leader, he is an initiator... The guy who can think original ideas," Andanar said.

Arcena had started working on the blueprint of the new office's mechanisms and workflow last week.

But in the meantime, Andanar said that he was meeting and building relationships with Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) journalists and different foreign media groups.

The PCOO was created in 2010 by then-President Benigno Aquino III through Executive Order No. 4.

Last month, Senate President Vicente Sotto III has sought the reestablishment of the Office of the Press Secretary to replace the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to streamline the operations of the government's messaging arm.

Andanar had welcomed the suggestion and said he pitched the same to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea when he assumed the post on PCOO in 2016. — Dona Magsino/DVM, GMA News