President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will grant journalists’ requests for interviews depending on the situation, Malacañang said Monday.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Marcos may start taking questions from reporters when there is a “pressing issue” that he would need to speak about.
“That will be up to him. I think it will be in relation to whether there is a pressing issue that he would like to bring to the media directly. So, it will be on those occasions. We cannot say yet if it’s going to be a monthly thing or anything with that kind of regularity. It will really depend on the situation,” she said in her first regular press briefing at Malacañan Palace.
Last April, Marcos said he believes it is necessary for him to hold regular media briefings if he is elected as president.
“Ako, palagay ko hindi ako maglalagay ng spokesman. Haharap ako sa media. I don’t understand bakit may spokesman ang presidente. Kaya naman i-explain ng presidente kahit na ano eh (I think I won’t appoint a spokesman. I feel face the media. I don’t understand why the president has a spokesman. The president can explain anything),” he said in an interview for CNN Philippines’ In Private on April 26.
He, however, noted that a Press secretary might be needed to do regular media briefings, especially on urgent issues.
Cruz-Angeles, who has been named as the press secretary of Marcos, is expected to “oversee the operations of the PCOO, which includes the conduct of regular press briefings to media practitioners covering Malacañang activities.”
The lawyer-turned vlogger earlier said she would regularly monitor the accomplishments of all agencies, bureaus, and offices under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) in her first 100 days in office.
She said she also plans to look into the possibility of regularizing more casual workers of the PCOO and its attached agencies.
The PCOO, the lead communications arm of the Philippine government, is composed of the following attached agencies– the People’s Television Network (PTV-4), News and Information Bureau-Philippine News Agency, Philippine Information Agency, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp., Radio Television Malacañang, Bureau of Broadcast Services, Bureau of Communications Services, National Printing Office, and Apo Production Unit, Inc. (PNA)
