MANILA, Philippines?The perceived preferential treatment that President Benigno Aquino III?s communications people are giving the ABS-CBN television network has become a heated issue for the second time in the month-old Aquino administration.

The Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) yesterday called the attention of Mr. Aquino?s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, for breaking the news about Memorandum Circular No. 2 not in the government-run National Broadcasting Network as protocol demanded, but in the privately owned ABS-CBN.

In an e-mail to Lacierda yesterday, acting MPC president Mia Gonzales of the Business Mirror said: ?If there are any major Palace announcements that have to be made, we would appreciate it if you could alert the MPC first before breaking it elsewhere.?

Lacierda apologized to Palace reporters in a late-afternoon briefing.

?I apologize for this morning. I made another faux pas. It won?t happen again,? he said.

?There was no intent whatsoever to prefer ABS. I am not a member, never have been an employee, of ABS,? he said.

The announcement of the circular was being awaited by noncareer officials occupying Career Executive Service positions and whose terms of service were to expire today. Mr. Aquino extended their service until Oct. 31.

It was the second ?social blunder? involving ABS-CBN and the issue of noncareer appointees that Lacierda has found himself apologizing for.

The day after Mr. Aquino?s June 30 inauguration, the Palace announced that it was issuing a correction of the very first circular issued by the President, declaring vacant the positions of all noncareer appointees and extending for another month the services of contractual employees.

Lacierda initially set a press conference in Malacañang for 10:30 a.m. of July 1 to clarify Memorandum Circular No. 1. He never showed up.

Palace reporters were stunned when Lacierda appeared two hours later on the ANC network, the ABS-CBN news channel, announcing the corrections to the memorandum.

The connection?

Lacierda is not a former ABS-CBN employee but Secretary Ricky Carandang, one of the two heads of the President?s Communications Group (ComGroup), was a former reporter of the ABS-CBN network.

When ANC?s Facebook account posted a verbatim copy of Mr. Aquino?s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 26, just moments after it was delivered at the House of Representatives, Palace reporters suspected that an advance copy had been leaked to Carandang?s former employers.

The ComGroup earlier ignored the tradition of giving Palace reporters an advance, though embargoed, copy of the Sona.

?I don?t know how ABS was able to get a copy (but) I can very well vouch for the fact that although Ricky Carandang is a former employee of ABS, he did not in any way leak it to ABS because I was with him the whole time,? Lacierda said.

?We?re still investigating how it came out. I would prefer that ABS would disclose how they got the information. But from our end, we also are at a loss how they were able to get a copy of the Sona speech,? he said.

A fair chance

Gonzales pointed out that Lacierda should give all media a ?fair chance to break the news? in case of official announcements.

?The TV reporters and online reporters are also affected by the announcement over dzMM [radio],? she wrote to Lacierda.

?Since that station belongs to the ABS-CBN family, the first TV station to break it is, of course, ABS-CBN and ANC, which also have online news reports,? she said.

?This oversight prompted several MPC reporters to say that despite Secretary Ricky Carandang?s assurance that this administration would treat all media organizations equally?after the Sona leakage to ANC, which, to be fair, Mr. Carandang denied facilitating?ABS-CBN was again the first to break major Palace-related news, this time, Memorandum Circular No. 2,? she said.

Lacierda said Gonzales? suggestions were ?very constructive.?

?Let?s start on Monday,? he said.