Speculation is rife that Presidential Communications Operations Office Chief, Secretary Martin Andanar, is on his way out of the Duterte Cabinet.
The agency tasked to clarify the President’s message to the public has instead, on numerous occasions, muddled and twisted it. The PCOO has also been the subject of several controversies, training the spotlight on itself instead of bridging the chief executive and the people.
Through an insufferable series of gaffes and subsequent statements defending themselves, the PCOO has highlighted its incompetence and arrogance—a deadly combination anywhere, but more so in public service.
Through all this, Andanar has responded in a less-than-sterling manner, blaming his subordinates, threatening to ship them down South, and even believing somebody from his team is out to sabotage the office.
Their most controversial official, of course, is Assistant Secretary Margaux Uson, who has capitalized on her tremendous social media following and who mistakenly believes the number of followers equates with credibility. Her army of trolls has also been successful in shooting down critics, simplistically branding them either as “dilawan” or enemies of the people.
But now Andanar, uncharacteristically meek, says he serves at the pleasure of the President.
The question is, has the President been displeased enough?
We know we have been, and we have often wondered what hold Uson, Andanar and the PCOO in general have over Mr. Duterte that he could not even admonish them for their transgressions.
There are rumors of a possible replacement for Andanar—we wonder how deep the overhaul will go—but at this point we think anything other than the status quo would be an improvement.
We have three words for an impending overhaul at the beleaguered agency: It’s about time.
