New Palace media tack: GMA out, NANI in

Press Secretary Hernani "Nani" Braganza has named a special committee in his office that will leave no doubt as to who’s running the show.

Barely a month into office, Braganza has put up the News Advisory and News Information (NANI) board at the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS).

This developed after the government’s propaganda machinery stopped naming government programs after President Arroyo’s initials, GMA, following her declaration that she was not running in the 2004 elections.

Braganza designated himself as head of the eleven-member NANI board "as part of the preparations for the remaining sixteen-month plan of the OPS."

According to his OPS Department Order 009 issued last week, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR yesterday, Braganza created this "special committee" at the OPS.

He will regularly convene the NANI board at 10 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the New Executive Building — formerly known as the "Borloloy building" — or the structure connecting the former presidential residence and guest house to the Palace.

Braganza, however, did not state the functions and powers of this new unit at the OPS.

Braganza is also one of the members of the newly created Information Communications Advisory Group (ICAG), which was supposed to undertake a media campaign to inform the public about the President’s eight-point priority program for her remaining months in office.

ICAG, formed after Mrs. Arroyo announced last Dec. 30 her decision not to run in 2004, is altogether a separate entity from NANI.

Braganza named to the new NANI committee two of his three deputies, Press Undersecretaries Milton Alingod and Rocky Nazareno; Assistant Press Secretary Claro Fernandez; Eduardo Varona, director of the Bureau of Communications Services; Lucita Sanchez, director of the News and Information Bureau; Generoso Paz, head of the Presidential Message Staff; Ricky Agcaoili, officer in charge of the Presidential News Desk; Jose Capadocia, head of the Operations Center; Ruben Manahan III and Friedrich Varela.

Nazareno, Manahan and Varela were part of Braganza’s staff during his stint as agrarian reform chief, prior to the President naming him as press secretary.

Braganza issued this department order before he went on official leave last Feb. 25, ostensibly for an executive check-up. He designated Alingod as officer in charge of the OPS until he reports back to work today.