President Aquino's chief communicator

Characteristic of the new administration, a radical change in the Presidential Press Office has been made for the better. Instead of just one, two press secretaries have been appointed one, for communication and operations, and the other, for presidential strategic planning. The first is headed by Herminio “Sonny” Coloma, and the other, by Ricky Carandang.

At last Tuesday’s Bulung Pulungan sa Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Sonny said managing a bureaucracy like the President’s office “demands a lot of time, and the President wants separate entities.” Carandang is in charge of developing and writing messages and linking with public information offices.

Sonny has a slew of government communications offices under his charge: Philippine Information Agency, Bureau of Broadcast Services, the radio and television network of Malacanang, the Philippine News Service, National Printing Office, the government’s NBN-4 and two sequestered television networks. Coloma is the one directly interfacing with the private and public media networks, appears at press conferences, and socializes with media persons. Ricky, a well-known broadcast journalist, stays out of the limelight for a change.

With two secretaries with specific responsibilities, plus the spokesperson, there should be no confusion on who issues and writes press releases and interprets what is on the President’s mind. In the past, competing regimes resulted in jealousies and shadow boxing among the communicators, not to mention deputies who made statements the boss did not appreciate.

In just over a month, Sonny has hit it off with the media, as had the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, clearly a media favorite. Sonny is no stranger to effective communication work; he is as important a messenger as the messages he carries.

At Bulung Pulungan, he answered questions simply, even if some were not related to his job. This columnist asked about the propriety of a legislator’s using below-the-belt, extremely foul language about former President Arroyo. Sonny said, “We have freedom of expression, but with freedom of expression comes responsibility.” He added that while legislators are free to criticize government officials, they should also show respect for people.

The press secretary admittedly quickly comes to the defense of his boss. At this time, with media rearing its ugly head as it looks for presidential missteps, Coloma defends the President’s decisions. For example, he said at Bulong that the President was right in dismissing the PAGASA chief. If the forces of Normandy, with no sophisticated weather-predicting devices but only common sense, were able to predict the weather, and entered Germany, why can’t our weather bureau?

Like a good soldier, Sonny spoke of P-Noy’s good deeds and intentions, among them his wanting to strengthen witness protection and the judicial process (15 percent of cases takes six years to be solved, Sonny said); reducing the national budget; opening up of public access to the President. In response, Sonny said, his office is initiating the use of the Noynoy website, and shifting to Facebook and Twitter features, maximizing the use of cellphones (the cellphone, said Sonny, is now the most potent information medium). The objective, he said, is to generate feedback from the people and listen to their specific complaints. He emphasized the effectiveness of people working together in helping the President solve problems.

 Of his boss, Sonny said “He has a very clear mind, he is very insistent on having the right facts, he wants to communicate (with the public), he has no high-sounding latitudes, no sound bytes.”

About P-Noy’s stickler for accuracy, Sonny said that the July SONA was practically P-Noy’s. A couple of days before its delivery, P-Noy spent more than three hours practicing before a tele-prompter. “He wanted to be sure about facts, about their consistency.”

Sonny is no stranger to working with presidents. Under the late President Corazon Aquino, he served as head of the Presidential Management Staff and deputy executive secretary; undersec-retary of the Department of Transportation and Communications, and undersecretary at the Department of Agrarian Reform. He also served in the administration of President Joseph Estrada as DOTC undersecretary where he supervised the maritime industry sector and headed the Philippine delegation to the biennial meetings of the International Maritime Organization in London. He has done consulting work for the Senate, House of Representatives, BIR, Manila International Airport Authority, Land Bank of the Philippines, Social Security System, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and many others.

He has a doctorate in organization development and a master in business management from the Asian Institute of Management, and holds a bachelor of arts degree major in political science from the University of the Philippines. He is currently the Don Jose Cojuangco Professor of Business Management. He was president of the University of Makati from 1996 to 1999. In 2004 he was conferred the Triple A (AIM Alumni Achievement) Award, the highest honor accorded by AIM alumni to outstanding graduates.

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In another front, I like the spirit of former Sen. Dick Gordon. Immediately after conceding defeat to presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino, he and his wife Kate gave a thanksgiving party for his volunteers, where he wished the new administration success in its endeavors. Last week, some of his supporters and friends gave a surprise party for him at a restaurant in Makati. Again, he wished the President and the nation success. The food was great, there was some dancing, plenty of wine, and the mood was simply festive.

Among the guests were Dick’s vice-presidential candidate Bayani Fernando (who told me he is now back in the family construction business, and is finishing a model education building) and his wife Marides; Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile, Sen. Miguel Zubiri and wife Aubrey, Rep. Roque Ablan, former BIR Commissioner Jojo Bunag, Alma de Leon and Arsenia P. Tabique of the Philippine National Red Cross, Tourism Undersec-retary Oscar Palabyab, former Congresswoman Carissa Coscolluela, Gen. Alqueza, Baby Arenas, Tita Trillo, Sonya Garcia, Dondi Alikpala and wife Kara Magsanoc, Travel Time host Susan Calo Medina, public relations partners Willy and Chingbee Fernandez, Atty. Danny Gozo, Rico Agcaoili, the Maronillas, Atty. Cruz, Inky Reyes, Louie Pawid, Andrew Nocon, and Southern Philippines Development Authority chairman Saeed A. Daof.

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My e-mail: [email protected]