New PCO accreditation rules for Palace media deferred

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has put on hold the implementation of its new guidelines for members of the media covering the President amid questions raised by the Malacanang Press Corps (MPC).

''Pending the revision of its guidelines, the PCO agreed to defer the submission period of the accreditation requirements, which was supposed to take place from April 29 to May 2,'' the MPC officers said in a statement.

The two bodies met to discuss the guidelines, which, according to MPC officers, seemed ''to limit the autonomy of newsrooms in choosing the reporters they will assign to the beat.'' 

''The two sides agreed to work together to achieve a middle ground that will ensure the efficiency and integrity of the accreditation process while preserving the autonomy of the Palace reporters,'' the MPC added.

During the meeting, the MPC officers pointed out that some provisions of the guidelines, including the five-year minimum requirement of existence for media entities and government coverage for reporters, would affect the status of fledgling news entities and the deployment of those mostly young staffers.

The officers also cited the need to clarify vague terms such as "false reporting," one of the grounds for the revocation of accreditation, to ensure that they will not be used arbitrarily.

PCO Secretary Jaybee Ruiz was open to the suggestions of the MPC but insisted on enforcing stricter accreditation rules and requirements to ensure that Malacañang is kept as a prime beat.

Ruiz and other PCO officials asked the MPC to submit a position paper on the accreditation rules so that they could be guided on crafting a clearer and more acceptable set of guidelines. 

The MPC officers will finish the position paper and submit it to the PCO by Friday.

The officers then vowed to continue to ''vigorously promote the interests of its members, contribute to the strengthening of self-regulation among media groups and stand by efforts promoting independent, critical and ethical reporting.''—LDF, GMA Integrated News