Afable: No regrets as Press Secretary

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said yesterday he looked forward to resuming his old job as chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) when former Muntinlupa mayor and congressman Ignacio Bunye assumes his new post as press secretary.

Bunye, who was appointed to the post last Friday, is expected to report to Malacañang tomorrow but Afable said he was not aware of the instructions President Arroyo gave the new press secretary.

"The job of a press secretary is really covered by a mandate that is spelled out in black and white. (Bunye) knows the job and he’s capable of doing it," said Afable, who will remain presidential spokesman until October.

Former Press Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao, who is on leave for an academic fellowship in Japan, is expected to return in October and Mrs. Arroyo had said he would be named concurrent spokesman and chief of staff of the Office of the President.

While Afable said he enjoyed his stint as the President’s alter-ego on media and communications matters, he said he is more suited to the PMS which is considered to be the presidential think-tank.

Afable, 52, was a newspaper correspondent covering the Department of Defense in 1972 until he joined the DND as assistant secretary for public affairs. He served in that capacity until 1986 when he rejoined the private sector.

From 1992 to 1996, he became a consultant of the government panel negotiating peace with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). He was later named undersecretary at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process until he was appointed PMS head.